The Hunted
by MangaMan250
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke live their life as runaways, leaving konoha at an early age they're forced to fight for their lives not to mention they are now wanted criminals! Fighting against the elemental nations they soon get a name for themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Strong! Smart! FemHaku. NotYaoi!
1. Chapter 1

Naruto sighed, but as he sit slumped in his poor excuse for a chair idly scratching his head with his eyes closed not quite ready to start the day, he decided on something, that today wasn't going to be like every other day. He decided that today would be different, he would be kicked around today, he had a lucky feeling this day.

As he indulged in such thoughts he absent-mindedly knocked his early morning cereal from his table it only took milliseconds for his eyes to open and witness the disaster as the bowl clattered and landed on his lap, leaving him covered in the remains of his breakfast.

"_Great…so much for being lucky!" _ He thought angrily as he got up to clean the whole mess up, he wouldn't let it get the better of him though, he was determined that today would be a good day in one way or another. Being a 7 year old child Naruto was still optimistic in his day to day life, no matter the hardships everything would get better eventually; in fact Naruto didn't think they could get much worse so it was only positive from here on in his mind.

He rolled his shoulders, still aching from excessive training that the kyuubi tortured him with day in and day out, he was thankful for his tenant and personal tutor but he had to admit the gain sure came with a lot of pain.

Time had escaped his attention, like most mornings, as Naruto hurriedly pulled on his black jacket its burnt orange trim the only eye catching feature other than the silver zip that ran down the centre of the jacket, hidden underneath the jacket was a white Uzumaki clan tank top, its swirl displayed proudly in black taking up most of the centre of the tank top. His plain black pants missed the burnt orange trim, they had two simple pockets and bandages around Naruto's left thigh used for his weapons pouch, the pants were tied at the bottom, the loose material hindering him somewhat. To complete his outfit he wore black sandals and a black head band, in which eventually his hitai ate, would be worn.

With one final look around he nodded his head, satisfied that he hadn't forgotten anything, with that he stretched his arms up high into the air and a yawn filled the silence of the apartment for a brief few seconds, after relieving himself of the lingering sleepiness he headed out of his apartment ready to face the day. Well he thought he was ready.

* * *

The door slammed shut as the boy let out a low growl.  
"_Everyone's the same around here. Annoying."  
_"Hmph." The obviously irritated Uchiha let out as he walked towards his living room, the huge empty building feeling somewhat lonely now that the other members had all been murdered. Just a few months ago the clans living areas would be buzzing with life but now they were desolate like a ghost town, which was essentially what the Uchiha compound could be considered.

He continued through the living room, the white couch not tempting him even the slightest bit as his footsteps continued to be heard on the wooden flooring he passed through the door leading to the hallway leaving the proudly displayed Uchiha symbol behind as he made his way upstairs. He knew he should have waiting until his eighth birthday like he was told, but he decided he was close enough, he needed to train and these clothes were holding him back.

"_Hn. Not like anyone can stop me now." _ The small raven thought coldly as he headed to the wardrobe in his parents room, the double bed made with loving care that only his mother could seem to achieve, he shrugged off such useless thoughts and turned his attention to the large wardrobe in front of him, the large wooden double doors the only thing between him and his new training gear.

Only feeling a sense of duty to listen to his parents for a few moments, he willed himself to pull open the large doors and reveal his training gear; he had things to do today after all. As he pulled open the doors ready to see his new clothing his eyes were immediately focused on the small scroll that had fallen to the floor.

'Dear Sasuke.' Was all it had on it.  
"_Strange."_ Sasuke thought, the scroll catching him off guard, however now interested in what was inside he opened it. After opening he immediately began to read, and soon he learnt the truth of the clan's slaughter, written and predicted by his very own father, right down to the time and date to his very own place of end.

Everything was there, the truth about Itachi's orders, the plans for an uprising against Konoha which would no doubt lead to a civil war in which the Uchiha would become the leaders of the village. Reading along the scroll he finally came to the end, the end being decorated by a seal, however it was no decoration and after pushing chakra into it Sasuke saw a small Uchiha crest fall on to the palm of his hand, and extra writing appeared on the scroll in place of the seal.

'Sasuke, this is the crest of the Uchiha, it is something that only I could hand to the heir of the Uchiha, if you are able, the crest will awaken your sharingan.'  
As he finished reading the unsealed section of the scroll he felt a burn on the palm of his hand where the crest was, he stared at it in amazement as it dissolved away into skin while he bit back the pain.  
Soon it was too much and Sasuke was forced to close his eyes, as he did he felt a surge of warm energy rushing to his eyes, upon opening them he could see things clearer than ever before.

Walking to the bathroom, Sasuke ignored the cold white floor tiles against his feet as he looked into the mirror hung just above the matching white sink, he saw his new eye colour and felt a strange wave of satisfaction, as if he were a real Uchiha now, the one tomoe in each eye looking back at him.

Other than his eyes Sasuke was white, even paler than normal since he had finished reading the letter, he was living in some sort of crazy nightmare all over again, his brother had been turned against him, by the village he lived within, he suddenly felt somewhat trapped and the paranoid feeling of being watched came over him.

He was messed up badly from reading the contents of that scroll, he felt the hurt of the loss of his clan all over again, he was suddenly frightened of his own village, and everyone wanted him dead. They pretended he was some sort of prince, the last of the Uchiha but really they wanted him dead, just like the rest of his clan, but if he acted any different they'd know…they'd know for sure that he knew and he knew it would take more than just a new set of eyes to save him.

But more potent than any of those feelings, was his anger, his rage flared as he punched the wooden bathroom door, the loud bang echoing through the empty house that only reminded him that the compound was empty; he gritted his teeth as he pulled his arm free from the punctured sliding door.

"_I have to get the hell out of here!" _He thought to himself before shaking off the idea, he scanned the area with his now red eyes cautiously looking for anyone who could be watching him, those ANBU he had seen around the compound must be there for a reason.  
"_I won't get very far if I leave by myself…I need someone, anyone is better than nothing." _With a deep breath Sasuke calmed himself before heading downstairs in a stoic manner that made his usual behaviour look sociable.

He found himself plotting, vivid scenarios would appear in his mind, starting with what he'd take limiting himself to a specific weight, any more than that and he'd be weighed down when moving or in his case escaping this prison. Countless lists of options went through his head on just his equipment alone ranging from the best chance to fend off an opponent or the least weight which would allow him to escape a lot easier.

Sasuke found himself thinking that a way of treating injuries would be essential to his survival no matter what and soon he had collected whatever he had around all of the Uchiha compound and had brought it back to his original place of planning, in the secret Uchiha hideout, the only place he felt safe right now.

Sasuke looked at the goods he had brought to the table, and nodding he started packing them into his backpack, the medicines like painkillers, vitamins, soldier pills and bandages going first, he looked back at the small wooden table in the middle of the room, the two candles barely lit the room which caused him to squint at them just to see properly, in a burst of raged he knocked the remaining items of the table with a swipe of his arm.

"_It's all useless! You're not thinking Sasuke! Everything changes depending on who I leave with…dammit!" _Sasuke thought with loud growl escaping him, he sighed heavily, pushing his hands through his hair, he felt pressured into getting this right; he'd only get one chance at this, after that he'd be hunted down. He found himself recognizing the importance of someone to rely on all over again, new plans and scenarios were easy to form but before he could lose himself even further with pointless day dreams he decided he needed to get out of the compound for a while, he would usually go down to the river around this time, and giving in to his paranoia decided he better stick to this schedule.

* * *

Naruto groaned as got up, the cuts and bruising already fading away as if they were never there,  
his body still aching from the pain, he really had to hold back today, he nearly snapped at the villagers and killed them all, he couldn't take it anymore.

"_Every single day…" _He thought, as the memories of the beatings he had received got the better of him, he rolled his shoulders hoping to remove some of their stiffness.  
"_I'm supposed to be one of them, to fight on the same team as them, so why does this always happen?" _ He thought, perfectly aware of his 'situation' with the Kyuubi, but the way he saw it was that the fox was forced into those things and if it wasn't for him holding the demon back there really would be a demon in Konoha, a real one, and not a seven year old boy that didn't defend himself.

He walked aimlessly around the village outskirts trying desperately to distract his mind from the growing displeasure of life in Konoha, the only things he looked forward to was his time alone, sitting on top of the hokage monument, on the fourth's head; his father's head.  
"_I don't know how people can't tell… they must really be stupid, or they just don't want to believe it." _He thought to himself, exhausted from the day his legs would barely lift themselves towards the destination that he didn't have.

From the corner of his eye he saw a boy, he had black hair and was wearing dark clothing, from what Naruto could work out the boy had an athletic build to him, he was willing to assume the boy had trained from a young age, the boy quickly turned around as if he was on edge and pin pointed Naruto in moments.

Naruto saw something in his eyes as the two looked at each other, this boy was desperate for something, like he wanted to get away, this intrigued Naruto as if mirroring his own feelings, without noticing he was walking, and slowly the boy got further and further away and Naruto turned his head looking back towards the direction of his apartment.  
"_Weird…" _Naruto thought to himself before mentally shrugging, he was tired, that training really did a number on him it may have even been worse than the beatings he got afterwards, what he did notice though that was the pain seemed to be less and less each time it happened as if he was slowly adapting to it.

He sighed as he opened the creaking door to his apartment, things could be better that's for sure, but he didn't complain about it; instead he walked inside and proceeded to lock the door behind him like he did ever since the villagers started beating him. He was soon sat at his kitchen table the steaming smell of ramen warming his face and intoxicating him as he took in the smell.  
"_It's no Ichiraku's but still…" _he thought before slowly eating the meal, taking the time enjoy it, at home he didn't have to pretend like he was some bottomless pit, the only reason he ate like that in public was so that he could finish as quickly as possible, he was sure that there were fewer customers when he was around.

Naruto thought about his day, he usually did this and was always on middle ground being unbiased to pointing out the good and bad points to himself although he would have to admit he did try not to name all the bad ones, just to put a positive spin on things even if it was cheating.

Still Naruto couldn't help but think things would be better somewhere else, after all, he was a loner, he had no responsibilities and no ties the only thing holding him back was what held him back in every other way except from being a ninja, he had to admit he appreciated kyuubi after meeting with her in his mindscape three years ago, without her he doubted he would be as capable as he was right now in terms of being a ninja.

Even knowing he was monitored from time to time, Naruto was sure he could at least escape the village, it was after that was the hard part, he didn't know how long he'd be able to flee from hunter ninjas, he imagined himself to be able to do quite well in locations he knew, as the advantage would be his.  
"_I guess running from the villagers is good for some things" _adding his positive spin Naruto continued to think about leaving the village like he usually did, laid comfortably on his bed as the moonlight poured in from his large window, the old radiator producing just the right amount of heat to make the room have a relaxing warmth to it, Naruto's personal sanctuary in everyday life.

He dove deeper into his thoughts, his imagination getting the better of him as he thought of travelling the world, meeting friends who wouldn't discriminate against him, becoming a strong and praised ninja that people could look up too, the parts that came after that discomforted him a little, being a runaway he doubted people would look up to him, but he guessed that didn't matter after all. If he did what he believed was the right thing to do, then he'd have no regrets.

Naruto sighed heavily.  
"I doubt I could do it alone."

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!  
I thought to keep them small for now, but smaller chapters means its quicker to write and release, although I'll probably end up writing longer chapters like usual.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke awoke, early like every morning since his plans began, he slid open the door leading to his back garden, the sun hadn't even risen and Sasuke found him enjoying this time of day, much like his brother Itachi used to, perhaps it was an Uchiha thing. The morning was so peaceful that it helped Sasuke to think, the quiet only being interrupted by the occasional singing bird or the constant backing track of the pond's flowing water.

He noted he could see his breath as the warm air hit the refreshing morning cold. Four weeks had passed. Sasuke sat Indian style with his eyes closed as he was deep in thought. His investigation over these weeks had been subtle, well planned and if he had to evaluate he would say that it was something he was good at. People were generally easy to read.

He thought over all of the upcoming kunoichi first of all, at his age he decided all were useless, they were not interested in training, and as much as he felt that he had matured and felt at peace to the extent that he was starting to remind himself of Itachi even despite his paranoia, he couldn't help but to harshly critique the girls of his age, he needed the best he could get and so far they were useless.

There was a girl named TenTen who seemed motivated, a weapons expert however was something that he didn't find to be something extraordinary, any ninja could become a weapons user with practice alone, he didn't believe it to be enough to become a specification nor did he believe that she was the best choice for his escape nor did she seem to have any reason to leave.

A shy girl named Hinata also caught his attention, despite her lack of confidence and skill she had the byakugan which was something that he could definitely make use of in one way or another, but despite her hardships within her clan he doubted she would leave with him, besides he needed someone he could rely on, an equal.

Going over the list of boys his age was just as useless or so it seemed, although some of the ninjas did practice with their clan heads and looked more reliable than some of the civilian bunch, Shikamaru was someone who could be used, a tactician would be very useful to have, but he really didn't seem the type to run away and risk everything.

Neji was a great find, a skilled Hyuuga who was apparently a prodigy and during Sasuke's investigating he confirmed this with his own clans eyes, he was proud however and rash or so it seemed, he doubted that he would be someone on who he could rely but perhaps his strength would make up for it, however after learning of the caged bird seal he figured that Neji could be easily taken care of by the Hyuuga clan head.

A sudden memory came to Sasuke, the blonde that passed him on the pier, strangely the boy was nowhere to be found, which he considered a good sign but after learning the boy was a loner like himself he thought that perhaps he was dead already, that was until he saw the blonde pass him by the pier again.

This gained his curiosity and he found himself researching the boy, with little effort he found out that the blondes name was Naruto Uzumaki the demon brat of Konoha, after digging deeper to find out why he was named as a demon, Sasuke managed to discover that the boy was in fact the keeper of the nine tailed fox.

That was some demon he had sealed inside him, he thought for sure that this boy could be worthy to be his partner, and after learning about the way he was treated by the villagers he had found that he probably would leave if he was given the opportunity, however Sasuke had no idea how to find the evasive boy except waiting by the pier.

During this time however he was never able to approach the boy, in fact he was lucky if he even heard him pass by, stealth was something that would be valued for the life mission.  
"_Hn. I'll find him today." _Sasuke thought, his trademark 'Hn' becoming more of thinking hum than a rude conversation ender. With the feeling of being watched finally getting the better of Sasuke he went back inside, only to see an ANBU shunshin away from the corner of his eye, perhaps it wasn't paranoia after all.

* * *

Naruto had been busy, really busy. His things had been sealed, this was his in genius plan to cut down on weight, nearly everything he considered essential was sealed into small seals that were packed inside a simple black back pack. However this isn't the only thing that had been keeping the blonde busy.

His training could be mentioned, but most of his time was consumed doing research, however he found this difficult with his status and spying on villagers was too suspicious for his status, one the he did discover was that the raven haired boy he had seen by the pier appeared to be doing the same thing as him, only better.

This was essentially something that Naruto could use for himself, as the boy gained information, using his prestigious clan status and what Naruto believed to be charisma to get what he wanted; Naruto would get what he wanted by following him from the shadows.

Although this wasn't his preferred method of reconnaissance he had to admit that it worked, and he had figured that pretty much all of his candidates would be semi-useful at best.  
"_Although I don't really think they'd have much reason to leave." _Naruto thought while rubbing the back of his head.

The only candidate who stood out to him was the raven haired boy, after doing some investigating of his own he found out that the boy was Sasuke Uchiha, the last remaining Uchiha, and there were rumours that he had already awakened the sharingan.

After seeing the boy train Naruto had to think long and hard on which one of them would win if they were to fight, but his efforts were in vain and he soon gave up. Today was the day he would follow the raven, and find out if his plans were similar to his own after all.

Naruto was laid lazily in a tree, insisting to kyuubi that this was in fact a very important personal, and after a few hours of lying there happily he saw his target, the Uchiha walked into a store and minutes later he came out with a plain black back pack, soon he travelled to a weapons store and seemed to purchase a fair amount of kunai and shuriken, he also bought ninja wire which perked Naruto's interest.

What Naruto saw next though confirmed his thoughts, this boy was trying to escape just like he was, perfect, he had an ally…if he didn't mess up. Sasuke was walking along the village wall, feeling for any sign of weaknesses at first glance, but in reality he was watching the guards from the corner of his eyes.  
"_Well, here it goes." _He thought to himself, before transforming himself, with a puff of smoke he became a bland looking jounin with nothing memorable about him, with this disguise in place he confronted the small uchiha infront of him, it was strange being tall.

"Hey…Sasuke , is it?" The jonin said, earning the boy to turn sharpley to look at him, obviously on edge. Instead of answering Sasuke just looked at the man hoping that he would continue, while trailing along the wall he had been watching the patrol patterns and not only that, he had been scoping the area, which path he could use through the village to escape, however he was having great difficulty as he did not know the winding alley ways and cuts well.

"What are you doing all the way out here? You must be bored senseless." The jonin said with a smile, it was infectious and for some reason the uchiha felt himself smiling also, he would answer half truthfully, a ninja tactic he had learnt from trial and error when telling stretched truths to itachi, but even then it only worked some of the time and he was sure Itachi was letting him get away with it.

"I was checking the wall, I thought with It being so large it must have weaknesses, and if I found any I could inform the hokage. The wall protects the village after all." Sasuke said stoicly he darent add emotion to his voice uncase he messed up, he was nervous about this, his paranoia driving him wild as the jonin seemed to be contemplating something.

"Ahhh, its that so? It's always nice to see the next generation so eager to protect their village." Naruto replied under the guise of the jonin, this seemed to ease the boy a little, but he needed something that would tell the boy he was also planning to escape without being considered suspicious.

Suddenly the idea clicked in his head, if he could help Sasuke in some way then perhaps he would be a little more trusted and show that he was useful all in one move.

"Hmm, how about I accompany you?" The jonin smiled, he didn't look threatening but Sasuke wasn't fooled, although he was in no position to turn the man away.  
"Thanks. " Was the short answer he gave and soon the were walking along the wall, Sasuke made sure to feel along the wall as he walked although now it had become increasingly hard to monitor the patrols.

Soon they had walked some distance and the jonin suddenly stopped earning the suspicion of the young uchiha, he looked at the jonin with expectations, before the jonin slightly titled his head towards the wall. Immediately Sasuke saw, what he was looking for all along, this section of the wall had no patrols, he was sure that he could make it over this section, using the buildings that were the closest to the wall that he had seen all day.

"_Whoever this person is, he's been planning." _Sasuke thought to himself, however in a puff smoke the jonin disseapeared, and in place of it the boys black and orange high coloured jacket, it forming a large V shape and a white tank top was visible under neath it, as the smoke cleared he saw the boy grinning.

"Hey." The blonde said with a big grin, Sasuke was surprised, he had been fooled, although he accepted defeat quickly and took it as an advantage, in fact the person that had fooled him was in fact some one he had been searching for, so he couldn't mess this up. He seemed knowledgable in an escape route to.  
"_I guess my search is over." _Sasuke thought as a smirk spread across his features.

"Hn. I've been looking for you _Naruto_." The uchiha said confidently hoping to get the jump on the blonde.  
"I know...ive been watching you the whole time" Naruto said with a laugh.  
"You really did help me with researching possible allys…but I was watching the one with most potential the whole time, talk about lucky!" Naruto said enthusiatically.

"Hn. Well at least I know your not useless." Sasuke said calmly he began to walk away from the segment of the wall they had traveled to. With his hands by his side Sasuke signalled for naruto to follow him. Naruto followed the boy before realising where they were headed.

Naruto began to walk in the direction of his apartment instead of following the boy to the Uchiha compound, the raven questioned him with a glance, but saw the hand signals for 'halt' and 'river' the message made sense to sasuke as he translated it to mean wait at the pier, the place where they first saw each other.

Sasuke waited staring down at the water, he was calm and felt no presences nearby , his sharingan was activated just to be sure, staring down into water though they were more or less hidden from view.

Soon the blonde came into view again except this time he had a black backpack with him much like the raven's own, the uchiha raised an eyebrow to this and naruto walked on a while before giving a hand signal that indicated he was ready to proceed to the uchiha compound. The two of them honestly felt like this was a serious ninja mission, but really it was a personal mission, a mission to escape Konoha.

The two were chatting until late at night, each of them discussing the many scenarios they had came up with and planned for each helping to spot the flaws in the others plan, although naruto's plans were some what better prepared, having an ancient demon sealed inside you was apparently more help than he let on.

The two decided they would rest early.  
Tomorrow they would make their escape.

* * *

Hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

The night was finally pitch black, the time they had waited for was upon them, two figures that were almost impossible to see were racing through the constraints of the Uchiha compound heading towards the exit, soon the bounding across the streets of Konoha, weaving through a cleverly devised route for optimum stealth.

Leading the way was the blonde, well versed in the shortcuts and hidden alley ways of the village as the two hurtled through the village at great speed, a speed unexpected of the average seven year old, however it was not unheard of. The thoughts of a silver haired jonin being a Chuunin at the age of seven years old ran through Naruto's mind as he wondered if he too could one day be considered a prodigy, however this was left to the back of his mind as he navigated his escape route silently.

The raven haired boy could be seen closely behind the blonde, the red string the boy had wrapped around his wrist making him easy to follow down the winding streets thanks to his crystal clear vision, his sharingan glowing against the darkness as he swiftly moved towards the nearing escape point, although he wasn't the only one with red eyes at this point.

Naruto's blood red eyes were an effect of being trained by the kyuubi within him, a 'gift' from the great demon that allowed him heightened sight although that was its only ability, although it was no kekkei genkai it was incredibly useful to have and his vision stretched far beyond that of the average human, its vision could be considered parallel to the sharingan however he lacked the other attributes of the Uchiha bloodline.

The air was cold and the streets were silent, however the two knew that there were definitely ninja present on the streets, this wasn't one of the great shinobi villages for nothing, the tranquil night stars were blinking at the two below as Naruto turned to look at the hokage building for the last time.

"_I wonder what it would have been like…if you actually cared." _Naruto thought before steaming on ahead, memories of the hokage were happy ones he had to admit, however the man was a genius shinobi and the leader of a shinobi village, no matter what concern he shown Naruto guessed it to be fake or at least out of sympathy, after all he was just a man, a very busy man at that. He had no hard feelings however and was happy that the man at least gave him the time of day and was always kind to him but at the end of the day he was just another shinobi to the blonde.

Sasuke's heart was pounding as he continued on, he was going to do it, after the work had been put in he was finally making his escape from the village that would want him dead, he knew however that it wouldn't be easy. The plan was to escape the village from the slight gap in the patrol that Naruto had shown him; from there they would simply flee, covering as much ground as they could without stopping for as long as they could go.

They had of course in there careful planning considered that if they were to over exhaust themselves in covering ground if they were somehow caught they would be useless to make any sort of attempt at escaping, no they had until around noon the next day before the whole village was aware that they were missing, or so they believed.

As soon as their exhaustion became taxing however they were to rest while being as well hidden as they could be, rest was something prioritized highly, their energy would certainly be needed if they were to succeed. Sasuke couldn't help but feel excited his new life was about to begin, no matter how hard it maybe, he had someone he could truly consider a friend and equal, but he could only imagine what hardships were in store for the both of them.

With the adrenaline surging through his body he didn't care, he'd never felt such a rush before, he felt alive, as the blurring streets passed by in his peripheral vision he continued, chasing the red string bound to his friend's wrist as they continued through the night.

Naruto suddenly leapt, wall jumped three times between the two buildings before he had enough height to land gracefully on the roof, crouching down in an effort to lower his visibility he was soon joined by Sasuke. Naruto smiled to the boy before turning back and looking to the large wall that stood before them, they were just meters away, ready to make the jump.

Naruto took a deep breath, his breath hitching slightly as he looked over the village that would soon become just a distant memory of the live he never wanted, from the corner of his eye he saw the raven looking over the Uchiha compound with hardened eyes. They were ready to move on.

With a nod the Uchiha gave the signal, the patrols facing the opposite way wouldn't even notice them as they landed on the wall silently, before taking the time to even steady themselves after landing on silently on the wall they leapt down the huge wall, the wind rushing past through their hooded hair as they made their descend.

They looked at each other one final time to check all was in order after their landing, after the each nodded to the other the rushed into the forest not looking back, the adrenaline still fuelling their bodies from the rush of escaping a shinobi village powered them to move as fast as their bodies could handle, the trees of the forest rustling from their pace as they made their escape.

Forest after forest, clearing after clearing they ran, without stopping, their limits were nearing as they ran through one of the countless rivers they had crossed, their breathing extremely ragged as they soldiered on passed the tempting offer of stopping to rest, they weren't tired yet, merely feeling the strain.

Hours later they began to slow, the blurring landscape became more and more visible as time passed, and eventually they came to stop, looking at the sun in the morning sky they assumed it to be around 10am, they had covered a large distance, and would have to find a monument or nearby town to check their map to see exactly where they were.

For now however they were catching their breathes in a hidden cave, the decided to sleep, being deprived of it would surely have negative effects on them, they knew that in the day light the cave could be suspicious area which would be checked by a tracking team, they just hoped that by the time they woke up that distance they had covered would make up the difference. They had ran for twelve hours straight and were about to indulge in 8 hours of rest once they had eaten.

The two sat in silence while eating, not quite knowing what to say to each once they had finished their meal Naruto said goodnight which eased the atmosphere between the two, and soon they were fast asleep only hoping that that their best was good enough.

* * *

It was 2pm and the hokage had just received some shocking news, in fact he wasn't quite sure how to combat the situation at hand. He had just been alerted to disappearance of the last Uchiha and the nine tails jinchuuriki, a heavy blow to the village even if they were but children, the man had an unwavering belief that the two of them would become strong, how strong he was not sure, in fact their escape might have doomed them to an early grave.

The old man sighed, he had the elders breathing down his neck to send out tracking squads, and he agreed it would be for the best, the two would be great assets to the village when they grew older, and as of now they had the potential to be great enemies. Although currently the only strength the village had lost was the huge blow of the loss of their tailed beast, their military was not actually affected by the runaways, for this the hokage was thankful for.

Still he doubted that he could realign them with Konoha know, he knew what Sasuke knew, it turns out that the head of the Uchiha had far better insight than he let on, the Hokage nodded to himself as he reminded himself that Itachi Uchiha was son of the clan head and he shown insight to the degree of it being like seeing the future. No, Sasuke Uchiha would not be fighting for Konoha any time soon and he certainly did not believe in brain washing.

As for Naruto he imagined that the situation within the village walls had finally became unbearable for the poor young boy, he felt truly sympathetic to the blonde however he had a whole village to think of and if he was seen to be too friendly with the young jinchuuriki things could quickly go wrong leading to uproars and in-subordination leaving the leaf village prone to enemy attacks and spies.

He had no choice; he turned to the Anbu within the room.  
"Mark down Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto as A rank missing nin. If they are seen they are to be treated as immediate enemies of Konoha, however do not engage until their motives are known. Send out tracking teams, maybe it isn't too late to clear up this mess." The man said in a hardened tone, as he finished he took a long drag on his pipe before exhaling the calming smoke to fill the room.

The ANBU were surprised to say the least, the tracks of the boys had been covered completely from their time in the village last night, they had no idea in which direction they had headed, even after asking the guards from the night shift they found no evidence. After fully searching the nearby forest however they managed to get a lead and their mission began.

Moving at speeds only capable of jonin the raced through the land of fire in order to capture their objectives, however they were finding it increasingly annoying to find clear tracks of the boys over and over again, it was as if they had someone experienced with them, however all evidence indicated that there was in fact only two people involved in the escape.

However stopping and starting during a hunt was nothing to ANBU and they were soon at It again as they followed the strange routes towards their targets. The Inuzuka member was irritated more than usual, having being rendered an ordinary jonin thanks to two brats and their ability to remove their scent from the area by travelling through so many rivers. She snarled under her mask, at least they put up some form of challenge.

* * *

It was 6pm when the boys awoke, they packed up everything before setting fire to the whole cave, this would act as a distraction for sure and any evidence of who was there would be disposed of with the fire, it was a risky tactic but the time that their trackers would spend looking for evidence would buy them some time, as little as it maybe.

"We need to move again." Sasuke stated in which the blonde sat opposite to him nodded, they decided they would head deeper into the forests instead of heading towards the border or civilization as people would expect.

"_We're going to do this the hard way." _ Sasuke thought to himself as he imagined living in the wild, they did bring basic camping equipment and they were fairly sure they could survive in the wild for short periods at a time, being constantly on the move would mean that they would also be harder to find.

Naruto looked at the boy deep in thought before him, the two were still on edge, and they had fled one of the major and although it would be perfectly fine for ordinary civilians to leave the village, the last member of a prestigious clan and the nine tailed jinchuuriki weren't considered ordinary civilians.  
"_I bet they're already plotting to kill us." _The blonde thought.

"We should start heading to the thicker forests away from villages and main roads, I'm not sure where we are right now but if we try to out run them in a straight line they'll catch us." Naruto spoke wisely, his experience with running away had really helped them and but he doubted they had much time before the ANBU were hot on their tail.

"They order will surely have been given by now…" Sasuke sighed unsure how to continue, after collecting his thoughts he spoke again.  
"I'm not sure what we can do if they spot us, but I'm not going back there." He said with determination.

Naruto looked as if he was deep in thought for a moment before nodding to the raven.  
"We have no choice but to keep running, we're no match for them." He said in a disappointed tone, Sasuke let out a low growl before answering.  
"Let's move." With that the two of them raced of towards denser forests, the trees unimaginably tall and instead of traveling by the ground as they did the previous night they opted to take to the tree tops for speed.

* * *

"Have you heard!?" a young blonde screeched at her friend, the pink haired girl covered her ears on reflex before looking at the blonde confused, waiting for her to speak.

"Naruto has run away from the village!" the blonde shouted again.  
"But they'll catch him again won't they? Isn't he dangerous?" Sakura asked the girl known as Ino.

Ino wondered how Sakura could possibly care about something so stupid and knew that the thoughts would be long gone when she gave her the missing piece of the puzzle.  
"I don't care about that! Sasuke-kun has left with him!" the girl screeched much to the discomfort of poor Sakura.  
"What do you mean he's left with him!? You mean Naruto kidnapped him!? How did he manage to do it, did he use his evil demon powers!?" Sakura shouted back with her own bellowing.  
"_Please be okay Sasuke-kun! Someone will rescue you soon…I bet you fought to protect the village from that demon." _She thought to herself, imaging Sasuke bravely facing the nine tailed fox alone to defend the village.

Ino however shook her head silently which confused the cherry blossom.  
"…Sasuke-kun, he left from his own free will, his home was searched and plans and documents detailing nearly every genin candidate and their potentials were found hidden around the house." Sakura just shook her head violently.  
"_That can't be right!" _she protested.

"The both of them have been added to a list of wanted ninja that my Dad calls the bingo book. Dad says that tracking teams have already been sent to find them, and depending on their actions they might be classed as true enemies." Ino explained in a solemn tone.

"T-t-that can't be r-right." Sakura mumbled in defence.

Slowly the information leaked across the village, many of the young genin candidates being among the first to find out, although most were indifferent or even glad that they had left, some were even angry declaring them as traitors of Konoha that didn't deserve to live.

"Hmph…how troublesome, the village are all running around over two runaways." Shikamaru mumbled lazily to his friend Choji, the boy was snacking on some potato chips while nodding to his friend in agreement.  
"What's so special about those two anyway!?" The boy asked in between mouthfuls, Shikamaru just sighed in reply and looked back to the clouds watching them float by; he closed his eyes and sighed again.

Some of the jonin were the first to be informed, Kakashi Hatake among those who volunteered to bring back the young Uchiha, there were fears that there could be a rendezvous with Itachi, and other than the hokage or Jiraiya, Kakashi figured he would be the best option to combat the Uchiha.  
Although they doubted the young Uchiha would want to be re-united with his elder brother after the events of the Uchiha massacre, however even a small chance couldn't be ignored.

For the two boys on the run, everything started now.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Chapter 4

The boys panicked at the new foes that appeared before them.  
"_Bandits!" _ They thought at the sight of the men lined up to face them, it appeared that the area wasn't as uninhabited as they thought.

_**"It starts here Kit. Kill them." **_The nine tailed fox said gently in the boys head, the words seemed intoxicating, he felt the doubt leave him and looked suddenly calm, Naruto could see the raven was on edge, but he'd die before he let it show.

Sasuke held his breath as glared back at the men looking their way, he didn't activate his sharingan as the fight hadn't started yet, but he could feel it coming, it was in the air, the shivers in the air only started to excite Sasuke and soon he was so focused he could hear his own heart beating.

"What the hell are kids like you doin' all the way out here!?" one of the bandits questioned and before they answered the others joined in.  
"Oi! They look fit and healthy to me. Looks like we found some new workers!" the bandits became to laugh.  
"You two! If you don't wanna die, get over here like good little brats!" the laughter supported the man's outburst but they soon became angered when the boys didn't move.

"_**Kit…the more you fight…the stronger you'll get." **_The kyuubi whispered in the same tone as before, in her miniature form in his converted mindscape that consisted of a tranquil forest clearing in which he used to train, the temperature not to hot and not to cold, a warm breeze would blow frequently and the lazy clouds in the imaginary sky would lazily drift by, as she whispered the words to him he could almost feel her nine tails wrap him in a loving hug like she so often did.

Although before getting to know the kyuubi he would have viciously denied her, branding a killing machine, who only wanted to be set free to wreak havoc all over again, but now he felt the wisdom in her words and the loving care they seemed to hold.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said in warm, gentle voice, the raven looked at him slightly surprised by the surreal tone, it sounded incredibly calm and care free.  
"…Yeah…" Sasuke replied more shocked when his own voice replicated the blondes, his activate sharingan seeing into the blonde's mindscape and hearing the guiding voice of the kyuubi that had helped them plan and take action in their escape before he gave his soft answer.

They turned to the bandits seemingly in a trance; the men looked confused as the stared at the two.  
"I dunno what the hell you're doin' but it looks like you wanna die!" The bandit announced and suddenly he and his eleven companions charged at the small boys with their weapons drawn.

The man swung his sword with deadly force aiming straight for Naruto's mid riff, while a another bandit aimed to pierce Sasuke with his spear, as if the whole world was slowed down the boys seen the attacks heading for them with slow after images following.

Then suddenly the rush came, adrenaline flooded their bodies and the world sped up, Sasuke felt a wave of feelings rush over him and before he even knew it he'd knocked away the spear and swept the attackers legs from under him leaving him to fall on his back with a thud, but before he could attempt to get up a kunai pierced his throat.

Naruto saw the sword slowly passing through the air in the position he used to be in, easily side stepping the slow attack the world came back to full speed, the rush of battle coming to him in full force as he landed a swift elbow to the man's temple, killing him in a single strike, although the move was a killing blow he was certain it would never work on a trained fighter.

Suddenly the fight was on, the bandits surrounding them five to one, the boys worked hair to dodge and parry the weapons attacks with their kunai, eventually before forced to wield two just to fend of the attacks.

"_Shit! Shit! Shit! We can't die here!" _Naruto raged as his attacks found new vigour, his rage fuelling him as he attempted to knock back his enemies with his strikes, he saw Sasuke doing the same, it was similar to lashing out in a controlled manner.

Sasuke dodged a sword slash from his right, his one tomoe sharingan spinning desperately in order to save him from life threatening attacks, he leapt back to evade two spears from the front and countered with one his kunai against a bandits dagger that was aiming for his throat. His blade dance continued as he struck and parried and repeated, the high passed action like nothing he'd experienced before.

"_This…fights like these! This is insane…I've never worked so hard before…" _Sasuke thought while focusing on the task as he moved he felt his soaking locks strike his face, the sweat pouring from him, he ducked under one of the attacker's horizontal slashes aiming for his throat, rotating as he did, his grip in the kunai reversed and he slashed open the man's stomach before rolling forwards to evade a spear thrust.

Naruto managed to evade a spear thrust that would have pierced his cheek as he leant left he felt the blade graze his cheek feeling the cut open immediately, as the spear passed him by he thrust his left handed kunai into the throat of the enemy before kicking him free from the blade just in time to parry an oncoming sword crossing both of his kunai in an 'x' formation in order to strengthen his defence, however he was soon forced to leap away to the left as another bandit joined the brawl.

Sasuke was breathing heavily as he downed another opponent that wouldn't be getting up again, fighting five enemies in a fight to the death was definitely something he wasn't used to, he was moving faster than he ever had just to survive, forcing the strength into his arms in order to block, push back and counter, slowly but surely he was winning.

The three bandits that opposed him consisted of the dagger user, and two spear fighters, after leaping out of the way of a quick strike from the dagger he flipped in the air, his sharingan working like a lock on system as he reached into his weapon pouch, shortly after he had thrown eight shuriken in an 'x' formation which rained down on the spear fighters who had no way of parrying the deadly weapons.

"You little shit! I'll kill you! I'll definitely kill you!" The enraged dagger wielder declared and quickly hurled his dagger at an unsuspecting Uchiha, who only just managed to roll out of the way, however as soon as he took his stance the man was upon him, wielding the two swords of his fallen comrades and slashing in a frenzy working hard just to counter his onslaught.

Naruto couldn't turn to look as he had his own problems to take care of, with this kind of pressure he didn't even have chance to use his shadow clones as attack after attacked rained down on him a sword user slashed for him from the front as a spear fighter trying to pierce his back, relying on his speed Naruto leapt out of the way of the spear only to see it pierce the sword user in the heart.

"…You bastard…" The spear user insulted, packed with murderous intent that Naruto was more than used to, however not having the time to think about it his other attackers rushed him leaving him blocking an attack from the left and the right, leaving him completely open to the oncoming spear heading straight for him or so the bandit thought.

Naruto managed to push off the attackers that he was clashing with and with deadly accuracy the kunai in his left hand was soon embedded in the spear fighter's skull, now he was vulnerable on his left as a sword slashed at him with an attack that very nearly cut his forehead, without a sharingan Naruto had already received a fair amount of cuts that were already healing, and relying on his instincts once more he leapt backwards avoiding an attack that would have slashed open his arm.

Sasuke was gritting his teeth as the constant battering his arms was taking from the constant flow of hits from the dual wielding swordsman that he was only able to parry, the angered man not giving him the chance of a counter. The bandit was thankfully running out of steam however as the attacks were getting slower, having less and less of a force behind them and soon he was sluggishly waving his swords at the boy in hope that he would just die.

Sasuke broke through the weak strikes with ease and using his two kunai his lunged forward piercing the man twice, the blood poured from the man and Sasuke felt it, the warm liquid flowing down his hands as stared down at them, slowly he looked up fully aware at what he done as he saw the dying man's last breath, the young Uchiha gulped as he pulled his blades free.

He turned to look at the blonde fighting off his opponent, it appeared while he had been fighting Naruto had manage to dispose of one of the bandits, leaving him only with a swordsman who was slashing wildly as he was taking retreating steps backwards trying to get away from Naruto.

Naruto threw his kunai in quick succession the bandit managed to deflect the first one but the second penetrated his defences and cut through his throat like paper, he grabbed for the blade as crimson liquid flown down his chest an in a useless effort he fell to his knees before crumpling to the floor, dead.

Naruto looked over at the Uchiha and was happy to see he was in good condition before looking at the bodies that littered the clearing, he was soaked with sweat much like his raven counterpart, he was panting but soon went to sit beside the Uchiha.

"W-We…did it." The blonde said in between catching his breath, the Uchiha just nodded, his eyes closed as he rested his back against the large tree they were sat under while gasping for much needed air.

"O-Out here…l-like this…that was harder than anything …ive ever done." He spoke while panting heavily, Naruto nodded as response as the two decided to rest before even speaking again, strangely the two had smiles on their faces, after overcoming such a difficult battle of life and death they certainly revelled in there victory for a while.

"_**The more you fight, the stronger you will get, after this fight you will feel stronger than ever, there is no training that can match fighting for your life." **_ Kyuubi announced at the two sat and enjoyed the peace within in the mindscape, the warming breeze a relaxing sensation that made them never want to leave. The kyuubi had each of them wrapped up in her tails hugging them like they were her most precious belongings.

They nodded at her words of wisdom, before opening their eyes are returning to the death filled, instantly missing the feeling of being held gently by Kyuubi.

"Shit! What are we supposed to do with all these bodies?!" Sasuke quickly alerted Naruto to a rather large problem, the blonde looked at the all before stuttering out words like 'erm and um' trying to form an idea.

"We set a fire to the whole area, it's the only way, shit we have to get moving!" Naruto panicked the reality of being run-aways hitting them full force as they realise that while they had been fighting their pursuers had surely been catching up.

"It'll still leave a trace…" before Naruto could interrupted however the Uchiha spoke again,  
"collect all of the weapons you used, we can drop them in the river up ahead, they should float downstream and wash off any traces of us."

Naruto just nodded before the two immediately went to work picking their weapons from the corpses of their enemies, before Sasuke flipped through hand seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (Fire style: Fireball jutsu)" a large fireball was fired from the young boys mouth and soon the whole area was a blaze with a small fire, without looking back they raced towards the river in an attempt to rid the area of their trace.

* * *

"Hmmmm…" the hokage contemplated, he had thought the young boys would have been found by now, it was getting late into the second day of their disappearance, if the tracking team were to be unable to find them by midnight they were to return to the village.

"_Perhaps I underestimated them..." _The old Hokage sighed genuinely disappointed that they hadn't been brought back to the village.  
"_It looks like their missing Nin status will be invoked after all under the orders not to engage unclear their motives are clear." _The smoke from the man's pipe filled the Hokage's office as he thought about the matter at hand.

The information had already spread across the village that the two had left together, with evidence that Sasuke Uchiha had planned to leave the village without any mention of Naruto however all evidence found suggests that the two definitely left together.

The civilians of course were blind with rage, how could the last remaining member of the Uchiha clan escape their village, it was not acceptable. As for the kyuubi container they were more than happy to have rid of that burden, most had voiced their hopes that the blonde was already dead.

The tracking team however were doing their best to find the boys, their time ticking away, after being thrown of course so many times it was a time consuming procedure, using the time they didn't have. They came to a clearing, the ANBU looking around at the remains of a fire, there was definitely a fight here, It seems that the two had taken out a group of twelve bandits.

"_Damn talented brats._" One of the ANBU members thought to himself.  
With a loud beeping sound that annoyed the whole squad, they realised, they had failed.

The two were safe for now.

* * *

Hope you liked it!


	5. Chapter 5

The tracking squad leader snarled, the brats had managed to get away, although she had a sneaking suspicion that this was partly because of the Hokage's strict forty eight hour time limit, it seemed more than likely that the old man had gone soft and let them get away on purpose, they were just children after all, and not even criminals, they had simply left the village.

Still the Inuzuka didn't take failure well, nor did she enjoy traveling back and forth large distances with no results. She sighed before taking a drink from her canteen, at least the pace heading back was somewhat relaxed.

The Hokage sat in deep thought, his ANBU tracking squad had not arrived yet and the forty eight hour time limit had passed, this meant that the boys had gotten away, he smiled despite this, at least he knew they were capable if they managed to outdo hunter-nin, even if it was only for two days.

For the boys the hours rolled by quickly, the hours soon turned into days and the days into weeks and before they knew it three weeks had passed. During this time they had been exterminating bandits day in and day out, using it as their form of training after all there was nothing like real combat.

During these fights with the bandits the two were limited under the Kyuubi's orders to use taijutsu only, with these limitations in place the boys found it much harder to fight off the bandit's weapons using only their bare hands and the adrenaline rush that the boys felt was no less than their first battle because of this.

Every battle was a fight to the death despite their limitations, the first few days of this the boys came away with cuts and bruises from the numerous occasions that had been to close for comfort, but they learnt quickly how to deal with opponents using nothing but taijutsu just like kyuubi had intended, they had no choice but to learn, it was kill or be killed.

After five days had passed they realised that they were in fact not being hunted by ANBU, they were sure that if they were they would have been captured by now, as they slowed down to nearly a stand still on third day of since their escape, fighting with all the bandits they could find, once they realised that they were safe from being seized by ANBU their real training began.

They would spend a fair amount of time in Naruto's mindscape, learning about the world, and theories behind ninja arts, however Kyuubi was surprised when the Uchiha had knowledge beyond that of fresh genin, after all she had already been teaching Naruto from a young age, so there was no way that he wouldn't have such a level of knowledge.

This saved Kyuubi a considerable amount of time and she soon moved on to intermediate chakra control exercises, the boys quickly grasped water walking thanks to her patient and kind approach to teaching, she couldn't help but feel more and more motherly to the young boys.

However her strictness soon shown once she had limited the boys to only using taijutsu, and when she believed they were beginning to find defeating their opponents an easy task she upped the training again, and the boys were now frantically fighting for their lives while standing upon water, every time they lost control of the chakra they were thrown of balance causing a major disadvantage that they would have to quickly account for or suffer the consequences which always meant pain.

After a week had passed the boys had grasped this aspect as well, fighting for their lives always gave them that incredible focus that made grasping the task at hand far easier than they would of ever imagined possible and with the constant pressure of life and death situations with the added factor that they were always heavily outnumbered their progress rocketed.

After deciding to up their training to yet another strenuous level, Kyuubi added weight seals to the boys, although these seals were specifically made to replace old fashioned weights that would impede growth they certainly weren't any easier to handle. Kyuubi wasn't merciful with her training methods as the boys soon found themselves incredibly weighed down to the point where their previously high speed movements became sluggish in comparison, although when they did land a hit the added weights did add to the force behind the blows.

For the third week she added an even larger amount to the weight seals, but like all her training methods the boys quickly adapted and were standing unaffected by their added weights as they weaved through punches and kicks that left their enemies devastated.

Kyuubi realised that this was the extent that the bandits could offer, and her new plans formed quickly, her boys were ruthless killers when they needed to be which was a strange contrast to the little angels she taught in Naruto's mindscape.

The Hokage was at his desk, looking through various papers and documents, one of the less enjoyable parts of being a Hokage; still he soldiered on as he did every day. One of the documents however caught his attention, and at first he couldn't believe what he was reading, he instantly recognised the location close to where the two runaways were last seen however that wasn't what surprised him.

He stared at the number of bandits that had been removed from the area with slight disbelief, this was a monthly procedure, his ANBU monitored the activity of bandits all over the country to make sure that they weren't planning anything or threatening supply lines.

The number which he read before him was startling, yet very helpful; clearing out bandits was something that the village rarely done due to the fact it was unpaid work, of course if the bandits were causing trouble they were usually contracted to dispose of them.

In the last three weeks however over eight hundred bandits were confirmed dead, as if someone had specifically been targeting them and annihilating them, and with the intelligence that came with being a wise old man he deduced that it was his two runaways.

"Hmmm, it would seem that those two are providing service to Konoha even if it isn't their intention." Hiruzen mused while the Anbu present was slightly confused by what he meant.  
"Hokage-sama?" the Anbu questioned hoping that he would be filled in on what he was missing, much to his satisfaction the Hokage did in fact enlighten him.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto seem to have quite the vendetta against bandits or so it seems." He said as he pushed the document towards the Anbu, who failed to hold in a gasp, to think that those two hadn't even received academy training and were clearing out bandits at a surprisingly fast rate.

"Are you sure it would be wise to let them go Hokage-sama?" the Anbu bravely asked the elder who sat behind the wooden hokage desk, the man took a puff of his pipe as if pondering his options before speaking in response.  
"They have shown no negative actions to Konoha, we have no reason to hunt them down, besides even if they were to be tracked if find it highly unlikely they would want to be taken back to a place they made such an effort to escape, to believe they would fight for the village that they fled would be foolish."

The Anbu just nodded in understanding before using the shunshin to disappear from the office in a cloud of smoke, the old man was left to get back to his work which he was regretful of. He wondered just how strong those boys had become, it truly interested him after seeing the death count the bandits had received. He wondered how well the village's genin would do in comparison in the span of three weeks, they were also very talented yet he somehow doubted that it would equal what the boys achieved even if they were to use squads of three instead of the two man team of runaways.

The boys were sat in amongst a death filled clearing, thirty bodies decorated the river bank as the boys took their steps back onto dry land, they looked at each other to see that they were in fact unscathed from the battle, though Naruto had suddenly picked up that Sasuke now had two tomoe on his right eye, the boy smiled but didn't mention anything, although he was incredibly proud of their progress.

The fire blazed strongly as the boys left the area, yet another bandit stronghold had fell to their strength, and it was becoming far too easy for their liking, even with the added weights, the water walking and the strict no ninjutsu rules added to their training they were still adapting to quickly to these enemies, they were on a completely different level to the lowly bandits that once threaten their lives.

As they rested in a nearby clearing they heard the voice of Kyuubi interrupt their small talk.  
"_**It seems that your training will need to be changed yet again." **_She said with a small chuckle after her statement, she was proud of the two and let it show often, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk and Naruto followed her example as he also let out a chuckle.

"About our training…I don't think bandits are as useful as they once were." Sasuke stated as he considered the results of today's training session, Kyuubi nodded within Naruto's mindscape,  
"Yeah, it's getting a little easy" Naruto agreed while nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"_**Well, seeing as you two are so close to the border I suggest that be our next training area." **_Kyuubi informed them, it was high time they fought real ninja; even if they were lowly genin such opponents couldn't be underestimated by the boys, besides they still had much to learn, Kyuubi smiled, it was time for the real training to begin.

Suddenly the two were in the mindscape, the first few times that they were forced into the mindscape was a little strange, but eventually they got used to it.

"Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked confused of why they were brought here, she gestured for them to sit and they complied, as she lay down on the soft grass herself.  
"_**Now that bandits are no longer suitable opponents I believe it's time to start your real training." **_She spoke, not to discourage them, their taijutsu had improved leaps and bounds, they were faster and stronger than any genin that was for sure, though there was more to being a higher ranking ninja than just taijutsu, taking this into account their chakra control had also been thoroughly improved.

"Real training? What do you mean Kyuu?" Naruto asked with his affectionate nickname, she nodded after thinking for a while, figuring a way to explain to her young boys that there current training had been completed.

"_**The schedule you follow will be no longer as of today. Instead Naruto you will be training using shadow clones."**_Before she could continue Naruto interrupted eagerly with a question.  
"Shadow clones? What have they got to do with training?" He said as he tilted his head in a very fox like way.

"Shadow clones send all information they receive back to the original, this includes training."

Naruto looked excited to hear that as he nearly bounced in place, wanting to start right away.  
"_**Naruto you will be focusing your attention on your wind affinity chakra, meaning you will be learning wind jutsu."**_

Sasuke looked irritated at the blonde for having such a useful way of training, even if Naruto only made one clone the results would still double, that's an incredibly useful thing to have considering the amount of clones Naruto would be able to create. The kyuubi giggled at the small raven.

"_**Don't worry Sasuke, you have your own advantages, you already know fire manipulation, and those eyes of your will allow you to learn techniques just by seeing them however right now you would only be able to use fire type skills after observing them with the sharingan. I suggest while Naruto learns wind manipulation you learn lightning manipulation."**_

Sasuke smirked after hearing he wouldn't be left in the dust after all, the two set off with their training soon after Kyuubi explained to them their tasks, Sasuke was to plant a kunai in the ground, after doing so, he placed his finger on the handle, he was told to imagine a current transferring from his finger to the kunai and soon enough sparks danced around the kunai before evaporating.

"_**You really are a faster learner." **_Kyuubi commented in mild surprise as the boy managed to pass the first test of lightning chakra so quickly.  
"_**Perhaps you also have an affinity in lightning…interesting." **_ She mused before turning to view Naruto's progress.

The boy had made ten clones, he was capable of creating more, but if he limited himself to ten the mental strain would be none existent. It was good to see the clones fail five times in a row each, taking mere minutes, before one of the clones jumped up enthusiastically holding up two shredded pieces of leaves. Naruto had performed the exercise sixty two times before managing to grasp it, the clones proving their worth.

"_**Those shadow clones will speed up your progress a large amount, after today this is what you will be practicing on mornings. Now we will move to the second exercise." **_ She informed acting as their teacher.  
"Second exercise?" Sasuke asked his straight to the point nature still remaining despite his overall improved behaviour.

The fox merely nodded and instructed them to head north; not doubting her the two followed her commands and were well on their way before they suddenly felt their weight seals be released for the first time in nearly three weeks. Almost instantly they shifted with speed that surprised even them as the rocketed towards what they believed to be their new training grounds.

Iruka couldn't be happier, his class that he had gained two weeks ago seemed like they were well on their way to being great ninja, they all worked hard or he liked to believe as they half listened to what he was saying, however they all did well on the original tests that were handed out to test their areas of knowledge, he was happy to see that nearly all of his students were at the same level, except for one Shikamaru Nara who didn't write anything down and was currently looking out of the window staring at the clouds.

Well he shouldn't be too hard on them; it was only the beginning after all. He sighed in content as he considered how things would pan out for the young genin in training, he was sure they would go on to surpass him, that's what all teachers hoped for after all.

"Alright kids! Break time!" Iruka announced suddenly, the thankful children running out to the yard with a cheer, they had been cooped up all day and the weather was too good to be wasting.

"Ahhhh, much better." Shikamaru said lazily as he lay on the soft grass staring up at the clouds floating lazily by, his friend Choji sitting under the shade of a large tree, trying to be quiet while he ate his chips.

Suddenly Kiba was seen punching his palm as he came over to the two with his feral grin.  
"Hmph, I heard about the two runaways, cowards – if I ever see them I'll show them the strength of Konoha!" He announced with a thumbs up to his friends.

"I'm sure they'll run in fear when they see that tiny puppy on your head…troublesome." Shikamaru commented.  
"Oi! Don't make fun of Akamaru! He'll grow up to be huge, you'll see!" Kiba declared defensively while making overly large gestures of Akamauru's size only for the dog to bark in agreement  
"Sure…sure…" Shikamaru said only partly paying attention while engaged in his favourite pass time hobby.  
"Hmph! I'll go find someone who appreciates my courage." Kiba said before storming off, although Shikamaru was happy to return to peace and quiet.

"_What's good about those traitors anyway?! I'm twice as strong as those two put together! I don't even need to try!" _Kiba though confident in his own abilities as he went to laze under the shade of a large tree with Akamaru falling asleep on top of his head, he'd be a genin in no time then everyone would realise how strong he was.

"We'll see him again I'm sure of it!" Ino chirped as she tried to cheer up the cherry blossom, who nodded solemnly in response, the two of them didn't really care for being ninja, they only cared about Sasuke, to the point in which they even entered the academy and now that they were here they would be considered fools if they were to declare their real objectives of entering the academy to the rest of the village.

"_I wonder what he's doing right now_…" she thought to herself wondering about the raven. She shook her head and tried to focus on the here and now, Sasuke was gone. As much as she didn't like to admit the raven had left the village without even a word to her, he really did consider her just an annoyance after all. Sakura realised what a stupid mistake she had made joining the academy, she was going to be risking her life as a ninja from now on, after realising that she decided she would do her best in studying, she was sure she'd be no good at the practical side of things, so she could just ignore that until she was a genin, as long as she passed and became a genin then she didn't care about her grades in the physical side of things.

The academy was filled with energy as the new students adjusted to their new everyday life, a comfortable and relaxing time for them all, eventually they would become genin and be respectable ninja. Quite the opposite of what the two escapees were currently going through.

Sasuke ducked under a kick, it was his first time fighting another ninja to the death, the clearing that they were in was a perfect battle ground, spacious and surrounded by trees for cover, however currently the two were engaged in taijutsu with Sasuke having the upper hand. The genin he was facing was enraged by the evading Sasuke as he lashed out with aggressive but co-ordinated attacks, it was clear to see that genin were far harder opponents than regular bandits as Sasuke took a blow to the ribs and before he could bring his guard up the genin had hit him with a vicious roundhouse, punishing his jaw as he staggered backwards.

As Sasuke got a good look at the genin he considered it a good thing the two had no affiliations with the leaf, after listening to Kyuubi's orders they found two genin which seemed like perfect opponents, they had no idea what they were doing in the fire country but they were definitely from Iwa.

Sasuke had no time to continue the thought however as his sharingan warned him of an oncoming strike, a fist aimed for the bridge of his nose, seeing it in good time Sasuke struck the boys wrist with a palm strike, parrying it successfully before sweeping the male Genin's legs from under him, temporarily having him stumble as he regained his footing. Soon however the fast paced battle was back on, each of them attempting to strike the other down while parrying oncoming strikes creating what looked like a well-choreographed dance.

The genin before him gritted his teeth as Sasuke struck over and over without feeling the strain, the genin however was becoming more and more sluggish in his attempts to land a blow, Sasuke trying to seize the opportunity attempted to break his opponents jaw with a powerful roundhouse. As the blow neared its destination however the genin leapt back much to the surprise of the raven and two kunai flew towards him, having no chance at dodging he drawn a kunai of his own to defend himself.

After beating down the oncoming kunai he saw the smirking genin as he threw smoke bombs towards Sasuke, suddenly the area around him was covered in thick smoke, his eyes struggled to see through it as he made out the vague shape of the enemy thanks to his sharingan, which allowed him to barely manage to parry away the oncoming volley of shuriken.

Sasuke flipped through hand seals while staring at the dark figure of his opponent through the thick cloud of smoke.  
"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" The raven shouted before a blazing sphere erupted from the cloud heading straight towards the startled genin, seeing it he leapt to the cover of the trees but Sasuke wasn't finished, he ran straight out of the smoke while he had the chance and followed the boy to the tree tops.

Flanking the genin who was now in a state of panic while looking for his opponent, Sasuke leapt in to the air, the genin catching sight of him as he threw shuriken straight at the boy. The shuriken missed by a long shot as they flew over the boy's shoulders, one on each side before the genin sneered at him.

"You'll have to do better than it if you wanna beat me!" He announced before getting into a taijutsu stance. Sasuke smirked as he landed gracefully on a thick branch, the steel wire wrapped around his fingers as he pulled the shuriken towards the blind side of the genin. The genin was quick to react as he turned to see the shuriken approaching, not quick enough however as the blades nicked at each of his shoulders leaving thin cuts as he snarled towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke saw him grit his teeth in pain while he made his approach, but before he even made it to the boy's tree branch he saw the boy flipping through hand seals that he didn't recognise the tomoe of his sharingan spinning as he deconstructed the technique before the boy had even finished the hand seals.  
"Earth style: Rock Fist!" the genin shouted and as the technique was finished Sasuke saw earth spread across the boys arm before forming what looked to be rock armour on his right looked like that of a golem's. Before Sasuke could land and leap away he was struck with a crushing punch to the ribs with the newly activated technique which sent him flying out of the tree tops.

He flipped through the air as he composed himself and managed to land in a crouching position as he recovered his breath from the blow that knocked the wind out of him, the pain from the strike still present as he felt a dull throb in his ribs.

"_This doesn't even compare to fighting those bandits…they were strong in numbers but singled out they were nothing like this." _ Sasuke analysed as sweat crawled down his face. The genin leapt confidently from the trees, his rock arm still intact as he made an attempt to crush Sasuke under the force of his aerial attack. Sasuke leapt away as soon as he saw the oncoming attack, after knowing the strength of that punch he didn't even try to counter the blow that left a small crater in the ground that it struck.

As the boy used his left hand to try and pry his stuck rock arm from the newly formed crater, Sasuke threw two kunai with deadly accuracy, as they flew through the air a familiar sizzling sound met the Genin's ears. As he dislodged his rock arm he instinctively used it to block the kunai which threatened to pierce his skull. The Genin's eyes widened as he remembered where he had heard the sound. He saw the Uchiha standing before him before he heard what would be the last words he heard.

"Boom." After Sasuke's announcement the kunai detonated and two explosions shook the small clearing as he was ready to declare his victory. He let out a low growl as he saw the smoke clear, his opponent stood in a full suite of heavily damaged rock armour as he panted with exhaustion.

"Y-You'll pay for that you bastard!" The genin threatened as he continue to catch his breath, the rock armour crumbled away and fell to the ground leaving the boy seemingly vulnerable, Sasuke wondered how to proceed, his arms bleeding slightly as he used them to defend himself from the pieces of shrapnel that erupted from the rock armour. He hoped his blonde friend was having an easier time than he was.  
"_You better not die Naruto." _He thought to himself.

The blonde in question leapt out of the way of another row of spiked made of earth, the enemy skilled in ninjutsu was proving hard to deal with as Naruto growled to himself.  
"_I wish I knew those wind jutsu right about now!" _ He thought as he threw two kunai towards the opponent, who in response raised a wall of earth, easily defending against the weaponry.

Naruto landed and the earth wall made its descend as the genin glared at him once again, they had been fighting for some time now, Naruto's legs bleeding from the constant evading of the spikes that would raise from the earth at a moment's notice, his opponent slightly bruised from the taijutsu blows he had received.

"Earth style: rising earth pillars!" Naruto's ears twitched in response to hearing as made several jumps backwards scanning for the attack, but it didn't come, suddenly however Naruto heard the ground behind him begin to rumble, his enhanced ears alerting him from to the four large pillars of earth that was suddenly upon him, he leapt out of the way of the way of the blows several times but was shocked as the four seemingly indestructible forces twisted and weaved seeking him out like homing missiles. No matter how many times the pillars crashed against the ground they would merely burrow through the dirt and rise again with the same vigour, from the corner of his eye he realised the Genin's hand were still making a hand seal, he smirked slightly before returning to the task of staying alive.

Naruto fled to the cover of the trees hoping that the compact environment would work to his advantage in slowing down the giant pillars, it after working out that the genin was still controlling the attack it would work to hinder his opponents vision. To his surprise the pillars didn't slow as the broke through tree after tree like they were mere twigs.

"_Just a little more!_" Naruto thought to himself as he narrowly evaded yet another attack from one of the pillars, the forest quickly thinning as he leapt to the tree tops, even still the pillars didn't stop as they smashed through the trees he was about to land on, his footing becoming harder and harder to find as he made his way back to the clearing, with one final leap he was soaring through the air, his eyes locked on those of his opponents, the boy still forming that annoying hand seal.

"_Now!" _ Naruto declared. As he did four clones emerged from the treetops surrounding the boy, while the boy had defended his kunai with the earth wall that hindered his sight Naruto deployed his clones.

The four clones suddenly barraged the genin with kunai, the explosive tags flaring to life as the blades hurtled towards the vulnerable boy, the real Naruto turned to see the giant pillars of earth behind him fall lifeless as the boy worked to defend himself, four walls quickly raising and forming a dome of rock and mud that would defend him from the eight explosive kunai that just embedded themselves into the dirt walls.

The explosives struck and the walls received heavy damage, the boy visibly startled as he looked around to see his defence shattered, however he didn't have much time to assess the situation as a swarm of shuriken was hurled towards him by the clones. Naruto growled as the boy easily dodged the projectiles, however not giving him chance to defend himself Naruto charged him, the sweat from excessive dodging was swept from his face thanks to the speed of the movement.

The earth genin put up a hasty defence as he shifted into his taijutsu stance, his obvious weak point as Naruto struck the weak guard over and over, his punches striking the boys 'x' shaped arm formation repetitively as the boy did his best to cover his head from the vicious strikes but the genin knew he couldn't hold them in place much longer.

Seeing the boy's arms red from his beating Naruto gave one final attack, spinning into a roundhouse as he hit the dead centre of the guard, the boy's arms falling out of their formation as the boy staggered back from the force of the kick, momentarily he had forgotten about the clones and it cost the earth ninja dearly.

The jumped gracefully down from the tree tops and joined their master in combat, now four against one, the boy not suited for taijutsu was suddenly taking hits from all sides, kicks and punches striking him again and again as he desperately tried to find a way out, but it was too late, one of the clones kicked him in the jaw, the force behind the kick knocked him upwards into the air and with one swift movement his un-guarded throat was sliced open by the blonde.

The genin landed, lifeless and blood leaked from his wound, Naruto looked down at his opponent, positive that he was in fact dead, before his shadow clones poofed from existence, Naruto was about to turn away before he realised the earth ninja headband, he considered taking it at first to ensure they were not targeted by any more ninja, however he realised they were still in fire country, and this was incriminating evidence against Iwa. Leaving the body to be found he went to find Sasuke, after being separated at the start of the battle he had to admit he was more than a little worried about his comrade, as he walked he realised the amount of cuts he had received from those spike attacks, luckily they would heal, but he figured that if he received a few more it would have been near impossible to dodge those earth pillars.

"_Ninja really are tough…"_He thought to himself, hoping that he would find a river nearby, he was worked hard by his opponent, covered in dirt, bruises, cuts and sweat.  
"_I should find Sasuke first." _He thought, the worry getting the better of him as he forced his bleeding legs to produce more speed while he raced through the tree tops.

Sasuke smirked, his opponent was tired. The Genin's sluggish movements soon became less and less of a threat to the Uchiha and with the boys chakra diminishing by the second his rock armour continued to fall away. Before Sasuke knew it, he was landing blow after blow on the boy and soon it shown, the boy was staggering around, now defenceless from his attacker as his crumbled armour lay in waste around the battleground.

Sasuke was unrelenting and wouldn't miss the opportunity to finish of what was a tough fight, the boy swung hopefully, his sluggish movements easy to counter as his fist sailed past Sasuke, seeing his opportunity the raven drawn his wire, and within moments he was behind the boy. The Genin's eyes widened as he felt the cold steel upon his neck, his eyes crawled to look towards his attacker for mercy, but the Uchiha, hidden from his desperate plea didn't answer his request.

With a violent tug the steel wire sliced through the boy's throat, and with dissatisfying squelch blood flown from the open wound. The genin fell to his knees, gasping for air as he did before falling to the floor lifeless.

Sasuke considered his way of finishing his opponent somewhat brutal, but it didn't concern him, he had won in the battle of life and death, it didn't matter how it was done to him, he was positive that his opponent would have spared no moment in doing the same to him if given the opportunity. With a soft sigh he was relieved to see a shaggy haired blonde land within the clearing.

The blonde scrunched up his face at the sight of the body behind the raven.  
"Jeez! Sasuke, do you have to be so…messy?" he said while taking in the blood sprayed surroundings. The Uchiha just shrugged, not really sure what to say in response, he considered the fact that he could have just used a kunai to finish it, but it didn't come to mind at the time, what's done is done after all.

"Phew…I guess genin are tougher than they sound, eh Sasuke?" Naruto said as he slumped down against a nearby tree, lazily letting his head rest against the trunk as he looked towards the clouds.  
"Nothing we couldn't handle." The Uchiha responded. They were more than used to taking on opponents that were out of their league, but that was probably their toughest fight so far.

"_**It would appear that ninja may not be the safest of targets just yet. Perhaps it would be better to train in skill, ability and knowledge before messing with more of them." **_Kyuubi informed, joining the discussion as the voice of wisdom as she so often did.

"Yeah…Oh, and next time, we stick together!" Naruto said with mock anger as he playfully shoved the Uchiha who had taken a seat beside him. With a smile the raven couldn't help but respond,  
"Hn."

* * *

Hope you liked it!

Sorry for the long waiting period, to make up for it the chapter was double the length of the usual so hopefully that was some compensation at least.


	6. Chapter 6

"Do we really have to? I mean I'm sure we can last a little longer on what we have." Naruto said, he sighed already knowing that he was wrong to believe the two of them would be able to survive on the little money that they had left.

He heard the Uchiha sigh heavily as if thinking before he spoke, the black high collared, elongated V-neck shirt along with the dark grey combat pants that he wore being among the items that they had just recently purchased.

"Naruto…we've been out here for three years now, we were going to run out of money some time." The raven said logically, he noted that the clothes that the blonde had chosen certainly made him look older.

The navy blue high collared jacket that he wore open was something that he had considered while browsing the store; of course the two of them had been under a transformation, to ensure that there was no trouble. Under the jacket the blonde had chosen a simple white tank top and to complete his outfit he agreed with Sasuke's decision to stick with black combat pants.

"I know, I know. But mercenaries? Who knows who we'll end up working for…?" Naruto whined, unhappy with the thought, he had lived out in the open for three years now; he had learnt that people could stoop to incredible levels to get what they wanted. Although they had avoided civilization to the best of their ability for the period they couldn't ignore society. While passing through towns they did their best to find out what was going on in the world. Naruto wondered how long they had spent in cafes listening to people gossip about information that was somewhat useful to them.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, he didn't really mind what the job was, he didn't mind killing at least, he did consider how he would feel killing random innocents, he didn't know if he was cold enough for that, although it irritated him somewhat to think he had become more like Itachi he had to admit that it was true, ever since reading the letter his father had written for him in the that awful place he had become a calmer more forgiving person or so he thought. Although he couldn't seem to get his head around why Itachi did what he did he merely thought of it logically, the Uchiha were the ones who were about to wage war after all, he simply targeted the source of the problem.

Sasuke shook his head as he refrained from slipping into unpleasant thoughts, thankfully Naruto's voice helped to snap him out of it.

"I suppose. I guess we can at least try." He said optimistically as they headed towards the location they had heard of, a man had apparently been taking in a large amount of mercenaries, a rich man at that, although they heard that most of them were untrained men, Sasuke was sure that there would be at least a few rouges.

"_**I'm sure your more than capable of looking after yourself no matter what happens…well to an extent." **_Kyuubi provoked as she got her desired response.  
"What do you mean to an extent?!" Naruto retaliated with his fist clenched angrily at the fox speaking inside his head; Sasuke shook his head as he saw Naruto give kyuubi the reaction she wanted.

"_**Well…i guess with your knowledge of seals and the training you received from me you'll be fine." **_Kyuubi said as Naruto could almost feel her proud smirk at him falling for her antics, he folded his arms and huffed in the most spoilt manner he could muster as the two boys continued to meet their new employer, in fact it had just came into sight.

It was a shady looking place, as Naruto had expected, it looked like it was an abandoned warehouse only now there were people everywhere, all with their various weapons strapped to their backs, some of the more eager ones were sharpening their blades in anticipation of the missions they would be sent on.

Still, even with the area being populated it wasn't a nice place, in fact Naruto guessed that this rich guy was most likely some business man that was needed a lot of dirty work taken care of, after all that's generally the job description of mercenaries anyway.

"Hey look 'a what we got here! Couple of brats that think they got what it takes!" One of the men said, his sword drawn as he paced towards the boys, the two of them had seen this scenario far too many times for their liking.

Sasuke looked at the man with distaste, as he edged towards them with a killer smile upon his features.  
"Oi you little punk! What the hell you doin' here?!" he said, Sasuke looked straight through the man, he was already bored of this conversation and he hadn't even taken part yet.

"It seems you are as stupid as you are weak, I should congratulate you, it must take a great deal of effort to act so pathetic." Sasuke said with a bored tone as the two continued to walk towards the main entrance, Naruto now grinning at Sasuke's comment despite trying to look serious.

"You little shit! We'll see how tough you are!" The man roared as his lofted his blade behind his back and charged towards the raven, suddenly he fell to his knees, his face the picture of despair as his blade fell from his hands. Cold sweat dripped down his face before as he desperately begged for mercy as he tried to breath. Immediately he was released and he was on all fours panting for his breath.

Sasuke's three tomoe sharingan was gone as quick as it appeared, with the man's obvious defeat the Uchiha turned his gaze from the mercenary and towards the entrance as the two continued as if the event never happened in the first place. Although the crowd looked towards the two as if they were inhuman beings as the continued to walk to the warehouse, out of fear and somewhat respect the crowd of mercenaries parted to allow them the fastest possible route to the rundown building.

As the two long time runaways entered the building they were met by two large men, both in black suits, who momentarily guarded the entrance.  
"We're here for the job." Sasuke said as he easily pushed through the larger man's blockade and Naruto soon followed suit. To their surprise however the man spoke in a deep voice that caught their attention.

"Ninja, huh?" He said simply before turning to see the boys that had to admit they were now curious  
"You're at the wrong meeting point. Head north, can't miss it." He spoke with authority, perfect for his body guard like role. Naruto couldn't help but sigh, as they turned to leave again.

Soon after ignoring the crowd they were on their way north, they weren't sure what they were looking for until they saw a man sat calmly on a stone bridge, not too far from their last location, the man tensed for a moment that alerted the boys that he knew they were coming. They decided to jump down from the tree tops and into the open, this was a meeting for mercenaries after all, the man would probably be on guard.

The first thing the two noticed was the abnormally large sword the man was carrying on his back, he stood up as if to greet them, and when he turned they could see that the lower half of his face was bandaged, much like a mask. It seemed the man had decided wearing a shirt at all as he stood topless, the sword strap that he wore to carry the absurdly large blade. Other than that his outfit seemed like standard mist wear, he wore the standard combat pants as well as the standard camouflage arm guards.

Besides the man was a girl who looked incredibly out of place, she wore an earthy green robe with a blue sash, underneath was simple combat pants, her hair was long black and straight. She smiled as the two boys walked over to the bridge; it was kind and warming and made her look even more out of place behind the large intimidating man.

"Uhh…we're here for the mercenary job?" Naruto said calmly before he received a look of anger from the Uchiha, but he couldn't help it, he really wasn't cut out for being formal.  
"I think they know that already." Sasuke said before awaiting their response, the small chuckle from the girl caught him off guard and for some reason he felt that she gave off a sisterly feel and he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

For a moment the man revealed a smile beneath his mask but it quickly faded.  
"An Uchiha and the kyuubi jinchuuriki…what useful tools!" He spoke, excitement evident in his voice.  
Sasuke frowned at this, he knew that the man was obviously higher ranking than him but his pride wasn't pushed aside all that easily.

"Tools? Hmph who would agree to being named such simple things." Sasuke spat, clearly annoyed, the girl edged closer as if to stop a fight from starting before giggling again.  
"That is just Zabuza-sama's way of calling you useful." She said before offering a gentle smile, Sasuke felt his anger subside a little, he had to remain professional after all.

"Whatever, if you think your capable let's move brats." With that Zabuza sprinted off without warning, much to his surprise the boys were by his side, easily forming into a four man formation with him, being the Jounin, as the leader of the squad. He couldn't help the grin that formed under his mask.  
"_An Uchiha and the nine tails…must be my lucky day." _ He thought to himself as they raced towards their destination.

It didn't take long for Naruto's patience to run out while looking at the overly large sword the man was carrying.  
"Oi, Oi, where did you get such a cool sword?" He asked full of curiosity, the man looked at him from the corner of his eye before answering the boy calmly.  
"Killing people has its gains." He said with a small chuckle, they didn't stop moving but Naruto didn't question the sword any longer, although he felt the man wasn't going to harm them, he didn't feel like pestering him either.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, that's just his sense of humour." Haku said sweetly as she hoped that their new companions didn't think ill of her master, Naruto just grinned back which gave over the fact that he didn't mind the crazed attitude of Zabuza.

"Where are we heading anyway?" Sasuke commented, looking towards Haku for his answer instead of the Jounin ahead of the squad, they had been running for some time now and if Sasuke remembered rightly then there was civilization around here somewhere.

Suddenly the Jounin stopped. The three looked at him with surprise, questioning his sudden action as he looked straight into a clearing; he turned to them calmly before giving them their orders.

"You two, go with Haku to town, I have something to take care of." Haku nodded and the two continued onwards, while Zabuza leapt into the clearing on his own. The boys weren't sure what exactly he was 'taking care of' but they guessed it involved that sword of his.

Eventually the three came to a small dock, it was just the one man and his boat, and they boys couldn't help but notice that the thick mist hid his boat well, looking around at their surroundings they saw a large bridge in construction, but other than that the mist was far too thick to see anything other than the water close by.

After some quiet words with the owner of the boat the runaways saw him pale a little in mid conversation with the seemingly sweet and gentle girl before suddenly nodding his head and ushering the boys over to get in the boat, they could guess that Haku had 'convinced' the man in a less than pleasant way but they were in the same boat as her, quite literally as they were acting as mercenaries and she was in fact sat between the boys.

before they knew It they arrived silently on shore and the boat owner quickly made his getaway, much to the surprise of the boys however, Haku informed them to head into town and look around, they weren't quite sure what was going on but this was technically a mission, so they did as they were told, meanwhile Haku put on a mask that resembled that of an ANBU, after seeing it they felt like they were on the run again and decided to head into the town.

What they saw was saddening, the streets were packed full of homeless and the stalls were deprived of stock, the people here were suffering and it was easy to see that they were in need of assistance from other countries. After the reached the town they did in fact realise that they had entered another country, this was the wave country that wasn't too far away from the fire border.

"I dunno about this place Sasuke…they look, well…helpless." Naruto spoke up; the raven only nodded before giving his response, an idea came to mind as he began his response.  
"Still…there must be something we can do; after all we're the '_bad guys_'" Sasuke had to admit he had nothing against the two mercenaries and wondered if they were in the same position as Naruto and himself right now, simply needing money to survive.

However they weren't the root of the problem, no the man that hired them…Gato, he was the one who to blame for this, the large amount of mercenaries must have been some sort of make shift army.  
"Even better. I think both us and wave could benefit from this." Sasuke smirked as Naruto looked somewhat confused, before kyuubi thankfully filled him in.

"Yeah…let's go somewhere quiet and wait for the others to come back." The blonde said, he thought he was somewhat fortunate that he didn't have a hitai ate tied around his head that basically said 'look at me, I'm a ninja!' to everyone around, it allowed them to talk a lot more freely.

As they talked over there plans they began to wonder exactly what had happened to their partners in crime as the hours began to pass, they didn't let it unnerve them however as they weren't sure what was going on in the first place. It was plain to anyone that the mission clearly involved wave in some way, and that Gato was probably trying to take over the country.

Sasuke and Naruto came up with the plan that they would betray the man when given the opportunity, and if one wasn't given they'd slaughter all that oppose them, that man was filthy rich, rich enough to give wave country a fighting chance of getting back on its feet.

"Ah, so you were here" Haku said with a pleasant smile, however beneath it was worry that the two easily picked up on.  
"What happened?" Naruto asked, but the girl just shook her head.  
"Do not worry, it's nothing that cannot be handled" she said her smile fading a little, she never did like to see Zabuza injured.  
"So what now?" Sasuke asked, something had happened and they weren't being informed, in fact they didn't even have their mission yet.

"You're to stay in wave country, there will be ninja around, you should be careful. Sadly I have to leave you now, Zabuza-sama is waiting." She spoke calmly while distributing her orders, even if the three were sat in a quiet café, a habit that was hard to kick for the boys.  
"We'll follow you out then." Sasuke said, offering for Haku to head out first. She smiled politely and headed through the exit first before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. The boys turned to head in the opposite direction.

"Sa…suke." She said as her eyes opened in disbelief.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Chapter 7

She shook her head.  
"_I must be going crazy!" _She thought to herself as she looked around for any sign of the Uchiha, obviously he was nowhere to be seen, Sakura was on a mission to wave country, her team's first C rank mission. Although she thought that the bridge builder had been suspicious from the start she didn't expect it to go so badly. Still they were all in one piece, more or less, with only their silver haired Jounin squad leader facing exhaustion from their battle with Zabuza.

She sighed at the thought of calling it 'their battle.' They were helpless, but worse, if anything they held back Kakashi due to their need for protection just like the bridge builder. She decided that since her mind was playing tricks on her, seeing people was certainly not something she needed right now, especially when they happened to be someone who hasn't been seen for three years.

She rubbed her eyes for good measure before heading back to Tazuna's house, the bridge builder offered to let them stay after seeing that Kakashi was in no fighting condition simply because of him lying about the rank of the mission, Sakura frowned, she could have been killed because of that old geezers lies.

"Looks like they're still after us." Naruto said as the two hid in a nearby alley, the headband was all they needed before Sasuke activated his genjutsu, they considered themselves lucky that even a weak genjutsu like the one he used to disrupt her thoughts would work on any ninja, they weren't complaining however as they managed to make it work.

Sasuke shook his head, he doubted that was the reason they were in wave.  
"I think they may have had a run in with Zabuza." Sasuke thought, it would make sense for the two to be combating each other and a team of genin would definitely have a Jounin for a squad leader, someone who would be able to at least go up against Zabuza. They knew nothing of the man's condition but given that they had a week to kill they didn't imagine him to be in good shape.

"Are we going already? Staying in a village all day feels weird." Naruto spoke unenthusiastically as he lazy leant against the wall of the alley way, Sasuke just sighed before nodding, they had found themselves in a new country with time to kill over this job, they really had hoped for something simpler.

Missing their normal scenery the boys left to the nearby forest, and as usual Naruto placed seals on four corners, giving them a small space that would cause a simple trick of the eye to make it look as if they weren't there at all, it was a basic level seal that he had learnt from kyuubi, the fox remembered some of the basic seals that Naruto's mother had used, but the more difficult ones were something that needed to be practiced to be memorized at all.

During the week they merely acted as the normally would, except for the added curiosity of when they were going to hear from their two associates or if they were going to hear from them again at all but eventually Haku had informed them that they were to head to the bridge that was under construction in two days' time, expecting a fight the two decided it would be best to take it easy and rest.

"Kakashi-sensei! You're awake then. How are you feeling sensei?" Sakura asked and to her annoyance her Jounin sensei just groaned and rolled on his side, she felt a vain on her forehead and fought to keep her temper in check.  
"Sensei…you remember where we are right now don't you? It's been five days and we've already completed the tree walking exercise that you gave us." She said slowly as her rage threatened to surface.

With a heavy sigh the Jounin sat upright, he thought he could get away with another lazy day but apparently the young cherry blossom had figured him out, he got out of bed, his exhaustion no longer present as he rolled his shoulders in an attempt to remove the stiffness from them.

"So your finally up, Sensei! 'Bout time!" Kiba shouted as the small puppy dog sat atop his head barked in agreement with his master, Kakashi just combed a hand through his hair.  
"Yes Kiba, I'm up. Sakura tells me you have completed the tree walking?" Kakashi said trying to change the subject and thankfully he was successful.

"Of course! It was a piece of cake, even Shikamaru can do it!" as Kiba said so the lazy genin walked through the door with bored expression that didn't suit his age.  
"Troublesome…Me and Sakura both completed it two days ago, we had to wait around for Kiba to finish." He said before yawning, he really was bored, these missions didn't suit him after all.

"Tazuna-san says that construction will start again in two days Sensei, what do we do?" Sakura asked, her head tilted with curiosity as she asked her question. Kakashi looked at her as if she was stupid.  
"We complete the mission Sakura, what else." He said as equally bored as Shikamaru was they had a few things in common that way.

"After all, it's obvious that Zabuza isn't dead." Kakashi stated, as the three had expected the mist Jounin hadn't died that day, Kiba gritted his teeth, and the room went silent.  
"So what! We beat him last time we can beat him again!" Kiba declared, Sakura couldn't help but look at her feet, to be honest Kakashi was the only one who fought the man and it was obvious they were no match.

To make matters worse there was that strange boy with the hunter mask, he was obviously strong, and Sakura wondered if any of them would be a match for him, she considered that if they outnumbered him three to one then perhaps they could defeat him, but they weren't even sure of his strength.

"_That also means I could be overestimating him! Yeah…he might not be so tough after all!" _She thought to herself trying to think positive, there was no point making the situation worse. She stopped for a moment in thought.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked surprised by her sudden silence. She shook her head as if snapping back to reality.  
"I-Its nothing Kakashi-sensei…I guess I zoned out huh." She excused as the Jounin looked over her suspiciously she couldn't help but think back to the time when she was in town by herself.  
"_Sasuke…" _ She wasn't sure if she should tell the silver haired jounin in case she really was seeing things, it could just make things worse than they already were.

"Kiba…last time we got lucky. Zabuza had never fought against the sharingan before but he won't fall for it twice, when we're on that bridge I don't want you to do anything reckless. Our mission is to protect Tazuna, not to kill Zabuza, remember that." Kakashi ordered, he knew the boy was quick to temper and that could get him killed if he wasn't careful.

Kiba let out a low growl.  
"_Why does everyone underestimate me!? I'll show them…when we're on that bridge they'll see how strong I really am." _He thought to himself as the team was dismissed, in two days he would get his chance.

"Sasuke…" Naruto questioned, it was early, the two days had dragged but the day had eventually came.  
"Yeah, let's go." The raven replied as the seals around them dispersed and they soon headed to the bridge, although they were in no rush seeing as it was so early, they didn't want to be waiting all day after all.

They had awoken at their usual time of around four or five am, the wild life around them acting as an alarm clock, being that the forest was only on the outskirts of the village they didn't think they would even need to run, they knew the construction was taking place early in the morning, and that the lead construction worker, a man named Tazuna was their target. If they could however they would be using that man as bait to lure out Gato after hearing the full story from Haku.

Naruto couldn't help but wonder what Konoha ninja were doing here, he assumed they were here to assess the situation with the economy after considering their position here, it would make sense for the leaf to want to ally with a country so close to them, even if it was for trade purposes only.  
He put the thoughts to the back of his mind, as he walked alongside Sasuke, he was sure the two of them would be alright.

"They're here." Kakashi announced. Sakura froze on spot with her kunai held tightly, she was stood in front of Tazuna, the only member of the construction team who had even shown up, the rest of the team had caved to the threats of Gato, in no position to fight eventually they felt no choice but to surrender. This didn't matter to Sakura though, it didn't matter how many people she had to protect it still wouldn't have stopped her shaking.

A thick mist descended over the area like something from a horror movie, and as quickly as it came they found themselves struggling to make out their surroundings; however the mist ninja looked totally un-phased. Sakura looked desperately towards her sensei, hoping for some kind of instruction which would make this scenario any easier to bare.

She saw Kakashi, already ready for battle as his sharingan pierced the mist, scanning for his targets that would normally be in plain view.

"Not even that eye will save you this time." Zabuza said and as Sakura watched nervously there was a clash to sudden for her to even make out, the sounds of clashing blades rang out through the silence of the bridge as the two did their best to slash open the other. A battle between Jounin was hard to watch for Sakura, her experience inadequate for the situation as she fought back her panic as well as the urge to scream in fear.

A soothing voice was heard amongst the battle to the death.  
"Please surrender, things will only get worse from here." She said gently, Sakura still had the belief that the newcomer was a boy however, though right now it didn't really matter.  
"Yeah right! We'll take you down! Right Akamaru!" His battle cry was answered by enthusiastic barking from the small dog.

"You're no match, if you're going to attack me at least involve your squad otherwise your chances are zero." Haku said calmly, she had watched over Zabuza's battle last time and she was more than certain that these Genin were fresh, not used to a dangerous situation like this, controlled by nerves it didn't matter how strong they were, right now they were useless.

"Troublesome…you sure know how to anger him." Shikamaru spoke, his voice calm as he analysed the situation.  
"Perhaps you have control of your emotions; the two of you should be enough." Kiba growled at his opponent's response before he could take no more.

"Gatsuga! (Fang over Fang) " He yelled and despite the war cry Haku wasn't expecting the destructive attack that hurtled towards her with a deadly speed. She had seen worse however and leapt out of the way to the left as the attack collided with the bridge leaving a nasty mark as Kiba skidded back into a fighting stance glaring at his opponent which was about to land.

As her foot gracefully touched the floor, Shikamaru smirked as he felt his prey ensnared.  
"Shadow possession technique complete." He said confidently as he sat in his crouched position  
"You should thank you team mate Kiba-kun, without him cleaning up your mistake you would surely be dead." Haku said calmly, the boy glared at her while fiercely growling.

"Don't underestimate me!" He shouted, his rage reaching its limits as people continued to look down on him.  
"There is nothing to underestimate. You're too inexperienced like the rest of your team. Whoever thought you were ready to face enemies of our calibre was foolish to believe so." She retaliated.

"We're different from last time!" Kiba snarled, Haku couldn't help but laugh at this comment.  
"You think learning to walk up some trees is going to help you here? An interesting conclusion." Haku said coldly, wasting life was something she did not enjoy and this boy was definitely going to get himself killed like this.

"Hmph! Says the one who's captured." Kiba said with a cocky attitude of victory, he folded his arms realising it was their win.  
"You're right; you did capture my clone, well done." A voice whispered from behind Kiba and as soon as it hit his ears he leapt back into formation with his team only to see the captured Haku fall in a puddle of water before his eyes.

"Surrender. There is no point in continuing. The three of you have much to live for; one old man should not change that." She said logically, referring to Tazuna, the bridge builder they were currently defending.

Kakashi was frantic, defending was all he was capable of right now, if he risked a counter attack he was sure his head would be rolling from his shoulders at the hand of that gruesome sword, he could hear his genin in trouble. The young boy (Haku) was right, he was foolish to believe they were ready to take on the mission to wave after realising it was an A rank.

The two jounin clashed again as Kakashi managed once again to fend of the huge blade with his much smaller kunai.  
"You should be careful Zabuza; one might think your compensating for something." Kakashi taunted only to get a grunt of laughter from the man.  
"You're just upset your pretty eye isn't doing all the hard work for you." He retaliated calmly. His silent death attack made him in control of the situation while his enemy was forced to defend. One slip and the silver haired squad leader was a goner.

"You rely on that thing too much it seems, I bet you've never even tried fighting with your other senses." Zabuza mocked before disappearing again to strike the back of his opponent, who to his delight quickly anticipated the attack before slashing back with one of his own.

"_Fighting with my other senses…" _Kakashi thought to himself, he leapt backwards gaining some space from his opponent as he whipped through hand seals.  
"Katon: Grand fireball jutsu!" He declared as the huge fireball spewed from his mouth and flew towards the mist jounin who calmly jumped to the right, avoiding the technique with ease.

"Getting desperate Kakashi?" He mocked but heard the leaf jounin slam his palm against the bridge.  
"Summoning technique!" Kakashi shouted and as soon as he did a pack of Nin dogs appeared,  
"Sniff him out." Kakashi ordered before the large wolf like dogs raced off towards the mist jounin, he managed to evade the pack for a short while before he was captured.

Seeing an opportunity present itself Zabuza used the replacement technique, as the dogs burst through a pool of water Zabuza reappeared behind of a terrified Sakura, aiming to assassinate Tazuna. However the leaf jounin was the one blocking his view, happily Zabuza decided to slash anyway, leaving the man with a rather nasty chest wound before the two leapt away into battle again.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura shouted.  
"Sakura! Pay attention!" Shikamaru quickly reminded as Haku easily evaded his stretching shadow while fighting off Kiba's feral taijutsu technique, still fully in control of the situation.  
"Hyoton: Icicle barrage." She spoke, holding off Kiba with his fist locked with in her palm as she caught his punch, she used her other hand to form hand seals much to the surprise of the genin and as she finished large spear like icicles formed in front of her.

After they were fully formed they looked more like spears, and they flew towards Shikamaru. Leaving his crouching position he was forced to jump to the left to avoid being pierced by the now shattered icicles. With Kiba still in her grip the boy went for a right hook, his free hand going straight for her mask. Seeing it coming she caught it with her free hand, locking him in position, before brutally kneeing him in his rib cage. The force of the blow had him staggering backwards but his course was soon changed as Haku's roundhouse kick connected with his jaw launching him back only to land by Sakura's feet.

"For the last time, surrender. It gets worse from now. For two reasons. " Haku offered only for the Inuzuka to growl and get to his feet.  
"Worse!? How could it get any worse?" He growled at his opponent who was totally in control of the fight already.  
"I'm simply toying with you." Haku said with a sigh, she thought the boy had at least figured that out.  
The boy growled again but had no evidence of suggesting that his opponent was hard stretched during their fight.  
"Yeah and what else?!" Kiba shouted unnerved by the situation.

"They've arrived." She spoke calmly looking towards the bridge entrance where two figures emerged from the mist.

* * *

Hope you liked it!


	8. Chapter 8

They turned to look towards the newcomers, the two walking towards the mist without saying a word. However as they stepped on the bridge the sudden screeching of lightning was heard and before anyone could react a battle cry was heard.

"Chidori!" The sickening sound of flesh being pierced was all it took to know that Zabuza had just been well and truly defeated. The man fell to his knees as Kakashi ripped his hand free from the man's insides, never a pleasant job. He watched as Zabuza fell to his knees, and lay in a pool of blood, the bridge was what would become his last battleground.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku screamed as she saw the man die before her very eyes. He looked towards her, his body losing its strength as he turned his head to look towards her, his stomach against the cold metal felt unbearably suitable for his last words. The girl fell to her knees next to the man, and ripped off her mask.

"Zabuza-sama!?" She shrieked desperately as the man was about to speak.  
"I'll leave it to you." He said before smirking, his eyes shut for a final time and Haku knew exactly what he meant. He had left her his goals.

Kakashi had regrouped with his genin while the girl had mourned her loss, although he never felt even an ounce of guilt over killing the man, his heart was trained to neglect such feelings.  
"Now it's you who should give up!" Kiba shouted being as insensitive as he was, as well as ignoring the now audible footsteps.

"Futon: Gale." Naruto said without tone in his voice, he gently swung his left arm from right to left, and much to the surprise of the current occupants of the bridge the mist disappeared along with the harsh breeze that had come and gone.

The Konoha ninja took their time analysing the two, their mouths slightly agape in surprise, the two that hadn't been seen in three years were now standing before them, looking calm and uncaring for the scene that had unfolded.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said softly, the words barely reaching the Uchiha's ears. She was holding her hands together in a silent prayer that it was really the boy standing in front of her. Sasuke looked at the girl for a few moments in silence his look unchanging as he stared.  
"What is it?" He said calmly.

The girl was shocked, she wasn't sure what to say, but without thinking the words came to her.  
"You're okay…" she said happily.  
"So it would appear." Sasuke answered quickly, not sure what had come over the girl. Feeling she had been brushed off Sakura's enthusiasm died down.  
"_He doesn't even recognise me." _She thought to herself.

"Sakura-chan. Step away from Tazuna." Naruto said softly. The girl suddenly looked thoughtful as her eyes squinted as if trying to get a better look.  
"Naruto…you two. Why!? Why do you want to kill him? Don't you know anything about the wave country!? About Gato…if you do, then why?!" She asked desperately and before they could answer Kakashi commented.  
"I'd also want to know, Sasuke, Naruto."  
"Because they're traitors! That's why!" Kiba roared as he glared at the two refusing to let them escape their past.  
"Kiba!" Kakashi shouted, the boy growling but not continuing his speech.

"Konoha refuse to see the big picture, it wouldn't be the first time." Sasuke retorted, his calm expression betraying the harsh words that only Kakashi understood.  
"What big picture?" Kakashi answered, hoping to get some incentive into their plans.  
"We never said anything about killing him." Naruto answered which somewhat confused Kakashi.

"Don't believe him Kakashi sensei they're both traitors to the leaf, you can't listen to a word they say!" Kiba shouted, but before Kakashi silenced him Naruto spoke.

"Tell me Kiba. Tell me what you would have done, if you were beaten everyday of your life for something you didn't even know about?" He said calmly, the breeze that picked up only helped to intensify the pressure on the canine like boy.  
"You see Kiba, I found out." Naruto said and before the Inuzuka even got a chance Sasuke intervened.

"What would you do if your whole clan had been massacred, and placed the blame on your sister?" Sasuke said with a bored tone, he had to admit it was strange to watch the boy squirm as he tried to answer their questions.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi roared.  
"What does he mean Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked not understanding the underlying message of the raven's words.  
"He's saying that the Uchiha massacre was an inside job and that Itachi Uchiha is innocent…could this day get any more troublesome." Shikamaru explained as he rubbed his head.

"Of course he'd say that! He's a traitor just like"  
"KIBA!" Kakashi roared, spinning round with murderous intent that made the boy fear for his life.

"Just like who." Sasuke said with a fierce amount of venom on the words.  
Kakashi was glaring at the Inuzuka daring him to answer.  
"I said. Like who." Sasuke said impatiently. His eyes flaring to life as he glared at the dog like boy in front of him.

"_A fully matured sharingan!?" _Kakashi thought, shocked by the revealing of Sasuke's three tomoes in each eye.  
"_At his age…this kid really is a prodigy." _ He thought to himself, he wondered how Sasuke and Naruto would compare to his genin in a strange train of thoughts but those boys hadn't even been trained in the ninja arts as far as he knew.

"Naruto. What is it that you know, exactly. What I mean is…"  
"All of it." Naruto cut off the silver haired man. Kakashi felt sweat drop down his face, he wasn't sure how to respond to that.  
"All of what?" Sakura asked quietly, feeling completely out of the loop.

Naruto simply blinked and his eyes revealed themselves, the henge he had placed on them dispelling revealing them to be blood red his pupils becoming dark slits.

"Naruto…relax…we're just talking, think of the people around…" Kakashi persuaded the thought of the fox being unleashed in the area and leaving total devastation for miles around wasn't one that Kakashi liked.

"This is what my eyes normally look like, and don't even consider that I'm not in control right now."  
"Control of what!? Why isn't anyone answering me?!" Sakura shouted angrily.  
"The nine tailed fox; I am its container after all." Naruto spoke calmly; Sasuke was silent as he looked over the four in front of him try to take in the information that they were giving.

Sakura paled, she, like all of Konoha knew all about the destruction that the nine tailed fox, to think that Naruto was in control of it made her instantly regret all those times she had not so playfully hit him over the head.

"What are you motives?" Kakashi asked getting straight to the point.  
"What are yours?" Sasuke replied almost instantly.  
"To defend the bridge builder Tazuna until construction is completed." Shikamaru intervened hoping to use their mission as some sort of bargaining chip to get the enemy to reveal their plans in return.

"We need him for part of our own plans. But we have no intentions of harming him, when we're finished with him he is more than welcome to finish the bridge." Sasuke offered, the easier they walked away with Tazuna the better. Kakashi was not someone they were sure about, a captain of the ANBU at one point they knew better than to recklessly attack such a man.

"Like we'd just let you have him!" Kiba said as he could take no more, he raced towards the two before jumping and spinning his body.  
"Gatsuga!" His body span rapidly as he formed his hurricane like attack. Kakashi realised a moment too late that this meant war.

Naruto took in a breath of air making his lungs expand as Sasuke did the same besides him.  
"Futon: Gale force." Naruto fired first as a harsh breath of wind collided with the boy, stopping him from advancing and making the other people present cover their face with their arms.

"Katon: Fire stream." Sasuke spoke.  
"KIBA!" Kakashi suddenly whipped through hand seals as the wind started to ignite as fire spewed in a constant flow from the raven's mouth.

"Suiton: Water bullet!" Kakashi's hastily prepared technique was fired from his mouth as three large bullets of water struck back against the now colossal sized fire technique.

Shikamaru had managed to grab kiba's shadow and using it he pulled the boy out of the way of the blast using the precious seconds that the water bullets had bought him. Out of harm's way the four leaf ninja looked on as the fire attack continued off into the distance leaving the surface of the bridge scorched black.

"Kiba, stay with Sakura. Shikamaru support if you see an opportunity." With that Shikamaru crouched into his position ready to strike with his shadow possession technique.

"But Sensei!"  
"Do as I say Kiba." Kakashi spoke in a tone that revealed he was far beyond angry. Kakashi looked back at the boys before sitting in a defensive stance, covering the hindrance of a wound that was inflicted upon his chest. As soon as he did icicles struck close to his feet as a warning.

"Your fight is with me." Haku said, tears welled up in her eyes but she managed to control herself.  
Kakashi growled. Fighting the three of them might be difficult while defending his team and the bridge builder. He wasn't comfortable about leaving his genin to fight those two either. Even if they lacked training he didn't believe they got by without learning to fight.

Not giving him the choice however another flurry of icicles caused him to leap backwards as he landed he regretted moving at all.  
"Hyoton: Demonic Ice mirrors." As soon as she named her technique water from the air formed large pillars that surrounded Kakashi and as soon as they did they began to freeze, creating a dome of ice mirrors. Once fully formed Haku stepped inside of one, melting into it as she became a reflection that was displayed on every other mirror in the dome.

Kakashi scanned the area he was now sealed in, he doubted he'd be able to just slide back out again. As if answering his question senbon made of pure ice came at him from behind, three of them aiming for his neck, he easily beat them away with his kunai, but another wave came from behind him once again as Haku travelled from mirror to mirror.

Kakashi had to admit the technique was keeping him on his toes and he had to think of a way out and soon before he was worn down. Although the attacks were easily countered at first they soon sped up with more senbon being shot each time that Haku struck making it increasingly difficult to counter never mind think of a strategy with the constant pressure, still Kakashi wasn't someone who'd go down so easy.

Kiba and the rest of the genin looked towards the two who looked as calm as day, despite what just happened they looked totally unfazed, not to mention the scene with Haku and Zabuza, they seemed uncaring.

Sasuke raised his foot, the genin immediately jumped onto the defensive watching as the foot that was slowly rising captured their attention. Then within a blink he was gone.  
He appeared directly in front of Sakura, his slight height advantage made him look all the more intimidating to the cherry blossom as she thought that she was about to die.

"Sakura!" Kiba shouted as he turned to make a move towards the pink haired girl at the back of the pack, defending the bridge builder by herself, however Sasuke didn't strike.  
"Sakura? Will you hand him over? We don't plan to harm you or your friends." He said calmly, she struggled with herself inwardly as this was the nicest that Sasuke had ever spoken to her, dispersing the stars in her eyes she answered with a silent shake of her head.

"Tazuna-san is it?" Sasuke spoke over the girl. The bridge builder looked to the young raven after being spoken too, he was scared but straightened up slightly to talk back to the one speaking to him.  
"W-What is it?" He replied in a gruff voice.

"Come with us. There'll be no need for these Konoha ninja to defend you if-  
I wouldn't recommend that Shikamaru." He warned, his eyes facing the man in front of him as the shadow was about to touch the heels of his shoes. Shikamaru's eyes widened in shock as his shadow stopped in place at the warning.

"Like I was saying. Come with us if you want to save the wave country." Sasuke said before turning on heel, walking back towards Naruto as if the event hadn't happened. The blonde ran a hand through his unruly hair before letting out a sigh; he had hoped that would have secured the deal.

"What do you mean save wave country!?" Kiba shouted and soon he got his response of Naruto  
"God you really are an idiot! Who even said we were the bad guys?!" he slapped the palm of his head in sheer disappointment.  
"Me an idiot!? You should hear yourself! Of course a traitor is the bad guy." He snarled in response.

"You keep calling us traitors, but we're not even registered ninja. Your obviously and idiot." Naruto said looking at the Inuzuka with disbelief.  
"What did you say!?" He said as he clenched his hand with disbelief.  
"I-d-i-o-t." Naruto said the word in a stretched out way that made it even more infuriating for Kiba.  
"Kiba, they're obviously toying with you…" Shikamaru informed as he sighed.

"What do you want of me?" Tazuna said surprising the four genin who looked towards the man with disbelief, even Kakashi who was currently fending of senbon took the time to listen in.  
"We simply want you alive." Sasuke spoke with authority seeing as the man seemed to be questioning his motives. Straight to the point but still illusive.

"What for?" The man courageously asked the raven standing before him.  
"To save the wave country." Naruto said with finality, the old man wasn't willing to ask more after the tone of voice the blonde used.

"Save wave? Yeah right, there's no way traitors would want to save anything!" Kiba said before following up his bark with bite, charging towards the Uchiha with speed, his fist cocked, he grabbed Sasuke's black high collared jacket dragging him as he put up no resistance, his fist launched towards the face of his enemy in what he expected would be a nasty blow.

He hit Sasuke with everything he had, he felt the collision of his fist meeting the ravens nose, but like a cruel dream his target faded away like it was never there in the first place, and before he had any chance of reacting Kiba felt a presence behind him, he turned a moment to late as Sasuke finished his hand seals.

"Annoying. Raiton: precision cannon." Two of the Uchiha's fingers prodded Kiba's right shoulder, the Inuzuka was confused and frightened, his eyes widened as hear heard the deafening cry of lightning and a wave of pain hit, a blue beam shot from the ravens outstretched fingers, blasting a hole through the boys shoulder the light travelled on into the horizon before fading away.

"Kiba!" Shikamaru cried out as he saw the wound the Uchiha caused, the boy looked incredibly pale  
but the raven wasn't finished, he gripped the boy's uninjured arm and used it to swing the boy towards his team mates.

"He'll be fine. Probably." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head, not everyone had kyuubi to take care of their wounds. Blood seeped from the hole in Kiba's shoulder and the other genin looked about ready to pass out.

"_Shit, what's going on out there." _ Kakashi thought as he beat down a barrage of forty senbon, he had tried numerous jutsu to get out of the ice mirrors, none of them seemed to be effective against the ice jutsu and using a thrust attack like his Chidori might leave him looking like a hedgehog. He grunted in annoyance he dealt with another wave of senbon from the unrelenting girl.

"Fine!? Look at him; he doesn't look like he'll be fine Naruto!" Sakura said as if she was telling off like when they were young.  
"Then do something about it." Naruto said coldly, he didn't like being reminded of his life in Konoha and this was no exception. The girl frowned viciously before she decided to call his bluff.  
"Hmph! Sasuke is the one doing all the work, all you've done is used those lame wind moves." She said folding her arms to make her point.

"Futon: Crescent blade." With a simple chop of his arm a crescent moon of wind chakra raced by the girl's body with tremendous force, she gasped as the strength of the attack and the power behind the gale sucked away her breath as it sailed by her.

"Next time I won't miss." Naruto said calmly, earning a look from Sasuke but he said nothing.  
"So, you fresh out of the academy or something? You really shouldn't be out here, it's dangerous ya 'know." The blonde chuckled happily moving on from the previous matter. The Uchiha walked back over to the blonde, turned and looked back at his opponents.

"Yeah that's right…what has that got to do with anything Naruto?" Shikamaru said wondering the motives of the boy.  
"It seems like your stalling." He analysed, Naruto gave a subtle look to the Uchiha who returned the glance.

"He's right Naruto, they're not co-operating. It'll be fine as long as we don't kill them right?" As he said this however Kakashi jumped free from his ice prison, straight into the open, the ice quickly fading away leaving a calm looking Haku standing on the bridge.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted enthusiastically, once again she was awed at her jounin sensei's strength.  
"Sasuke." Naruto said and the Uchiha nodded. In a flash he was by Haku's side.

"So this is how it's going to be Sasuke?" Kakashi said as he fell into a defensive stance again, not sure of the boy's strength, if the hole in kiba's shoulder and the speed the young raven displayed was anything to go by he had to be at least cautious of the boy.

"I'm smarter than to fight a jounin by choice." Sasuke replied with a bored expression.  
"So what are you going to do then?" Kakashi asked.  
"I said by choice." Sasuke answered quickly.  
"So you're being forced?" The jounin interrogated.  
"In a way. Things could have gone better." Sasuke brushed off the questions with illusive answers.

"Interesting. But I doubt that your plans would be of any worth anyway." Kakashi taunted.  
"Perhaps not, but I'm sure the people of wave will enjoy them." Sasuke responded his cocky attitude almost gaining a rise from the scarecrow jounin.  
"What do you plan to do with to the country of wave?" Kakashi said in a deadly serious tone, he wanted answers.

"That's enough talk Kakashi, Sasuke-kun." Haku said before violently raising her arm to throw her senbon once more, but to her surprise Sasuke's arm caught her wrist gently.  
"Sasuke-kun? What is it?" She asked. Sasuke turned ignoring her.  
"Let me see how well you use that eye." Sasuke said before the two of them were sucked into a battle of genjutsu.

"So, two on one." Naruto said rolling his shoulder blades confident in his abilities.  
"Three. I can still fight!" Kiba said gritting his teeth through trying to ignore the pain of the now bandaged arm.  
"So, two on one." Naruto repeated glancing at Sakura and back to Kiba.

"I-I'm a ninja too Naruto!" She said with bravery, his last attack had silenced her and she believed him when he said he wouldn't miss the next time he attacked.  
"Someone needs to protect the old man." Naruto said paying her no mind.  
"Then Kiba should be the one to do it!" She declared angrily.  
"I'm not on your team Sakura. There's no point in telling me your plans." He said getting somewhat annoyed by the girl.

"Kiba! You stay with Tazuna, you're hurt." She said trying to be gentle with him; she knew how stubborn he could be.  
"I said I can still fight!" Kiba said to his audience.  
"More importantly why do you want Tazuna to be protected Naruto." Shikamaru stepped in, hoping to stop the childish arguments that were seriously making them look bad.

"We already told you we want the old geezer. I don't know why you won't just hand him over. Seriously your idiots if you think that the only people Gato will send are those two." Naruto answered mocking the group of genin in front of him.

"Who else will he send?" Shikamaru questioned, his eyebrow raised in mild interest.  
"Well, he sent us." Naruto replied casually.  
"So you admit you want to kill him!" Kiba butted in amongst the calm conversation.  
"Don't think so lowly of us. After seeing wave like this you think we'd kill their hopes? We ran away from Konoha because of the way we were treated, not because we felt like being criminals." Naruto said frowning all the while.

"Then why do you need him. Explain it to us, perhaps we can co-operate." Shikamaru offered.  
"He's simply a bargaining chip; if we can get even half of that man's wealth for Tazuna's life then wave's economy will improve leaps and bounds." Naruto responded before sighing.

"Fight me, or hand him over. We don't have time for this." He proposed, these were fresh out from academy, he wasn't sure how he felt about injuring them, this proposition was the least he could do.

"It looks like you got a fight." Kiba responded. He glared at the blonde who fell into a defensive stance.

"Come." The blonde taunted, Kiba was instantly down on all fours in his feral fighting stance as he began his charge across the large bridge, Sakura could only watch on from her position by Tazuna as the battle was about to commence.

Time and time again Naruto easily parried his blows much to the irritation of the Inuzuka, Shikamaru flanked as the two danced in their competition of taijutsu, Kiba aggressively roaring hoping to land a hit while Naruto looked to be enjoying himself.

The boy rolled smoke bombs towards the boy, as Kiba leapt backwards.  
"Now Kiba!" he called out as the thick smoke rose around the blonde, seeing his opportunity the dog boy began to spin his body.  
"Gatsuga!" The hurricane attack was heading straight for the thick smoke, but to the boys surprise a vicious gust of wind cleaned the boy's vision, and he easily evaded the attack by centimetres seeing the Inuzuka sail right by him.

"Futon: Great break through!" Naruto bellowed, then a sudden gust of wind erupted from Naruto's palm as Kiba's fang over fang passed by him, suddenly the boy was hit by it, the force cancelling his technique as he was violently hurled towards the floor of the bridge, he bounced against the cold metal before sliding, to the despair of his teammate he continued to slide, dangerously close to the edge of the bridge.

"Kiba!" Shikamaru shouted but before he could help his fallen team mate he felt the breath in his body instantly leave him as he heard his own ribs shatter due to the force of Naruto's punch.

"_I-I didn't even see it!"_ He thought as he was bent over the blonde's arm which was currently the only thing supporting his body, but with a cruel knee to the chin Shikamaru was left falling through the air before landing painfully on his back.

He looked up at the blonde before forcing his body to move, rolling backwards and into a standing position he readied himself for an attack that didn't come. To his surprise Naruto fell into a defensive again.

Naruto had to admit, Kiba was sturdier than he looked as he warred with pain just to stand again, blood trickled from his lip that he crudely wiped away before threatening the blonde.  
"You just wait until Kakashi-sensei is finished with your friend." He said before letting out a beaten chuckle.

"The two of you don't stand a chance against him and you know i-"  
"How long has he been using the sharingan?" Naruto interrupted and suddenly Kiba faltered, before growling again.

"That doesn't make up for his skill. Who knows how quickly he could finish you two off."  
"Who knows if he could finish us three off." Naruto said, reminding the boy that Haku was still around another person who had ruthlessly kicked him around, although he had to admit right now fighting her instead of the blonde would feel merciful right now.

_**"Kit, the shadow."**_ Kyuubi reminded as the technique slithered towards Naruto.

"Shadow clone jutsu." Naruto said calmly, he merely pushed the clone into the shadow, the technique ensnaring the clone instead of the original, effectively making Shikamaru's technique useless for the time being.

Shikamaru growled as his attempt was stopped, the clone dispelled and the shadow crawled back to its owner showing that the jutsu had been cancelled.

"Besides Kiba, he's out numbered." Naruto said logically.  
"Hmph its only two on one at the moment, Kakashi sensei is no push over." Kiba said stubbornly trying to get the blonde to step down.  
"Your right, it is two on one, plus Sasuke is an Uchiha." The blonde agreed with the dog like boy for once.

"So you meant his eyes after all." Shikamaru thought aloud as the three turned to look towards the jounin and the Uchiha.

Each of them had seen themselves die over and over, it was hard to tell what was fake and what was real as the two fought to the death, although they fought over and over with different outcomes each time the world around them was so real that it took a huge amount of effort just to remember it was fake. No inside this genjutsu world it was all real, as Sasuke entered another taijutsu fight with the jounin.

Normally he was sure he would be outmatched by the silver haired man but in this world the two traded blows like destined rivals, the other desperately fending off killing blows that had already killed them numerous times, however every time the other seemed to die the world warped and reset with a mild strain on the mind of the loser of the round.

About to start another round Sasuke stopped within the illusion, countering Kakashi's blow before leaping backwards, the world around them mirroring that of reality. They were stood on the uncompleted bridge; every detail of the imaginary world was perfect and unbelievably convincing.

"What's the matter Sasuke, don't tell me you're tired already." Kakashi taunted, the Uchiha just brushed off the comment.  
"It should be about time." He answered calmly before the genjutsu around them folded in on itself and reality revealed itself.

"Time for what." Kakashi asked.  
"He's here." Naruto answered as he walked over to the jounin, behind him were two rather messed up genin, bruised all over but didn't look like they were in any danger, as for sakura she remained unscathed.

"Well, well, well! I should have known someone as useless as that Zabuza could never get the job done! If you want something doing, do it yourself! Isn't that right young Naruto?" Gato said before laughing enough for his whole audience. His mercenaries with him, the man was ready to rule wave.

"How dare you." Haku spoke with rage. Her fists clenched in anger before Naruto took over.  
"I couldn't agree more Gato. I want a job doing, and I'm going to do it myself."

"Shadow clone jutsu." Naruto spoke before five clones popped into existence, the charged blindly at the crowd of mercenaries who drawn their various weapons all of them rushing to outnumber the clones but as soon the clones neared them Naruto smirked. With a huge flair of chakra he activated the true purpose of the clones.

"Great Clone Explosion." He said in a bored tone and in seconds the human shaped bombs activated decimating Gato's forces in mere seconds. The genin looked away in horror of the scene in front of them; the bridge was fast becoming a graveyard.

Gato wriggled in Sasuke's vice like grip, urgently trying to break free as his life depended on it.  
"Wait! Please! Don't, I'll give you anything, you can rule this country! Imagine it; you could be the supre-ughhh!" The man couldn't finish as Sasuke's lightning chakra slashed open his throat; he dropped the man that hit the unforgiving bridge.

"Tazuna. This man's hideout isn't far from here, head south east and you'll find a large warehouse. This seemed like all of his forces, but you should take the leaf ninja with you. They are defending you after all." Sasuke stated and with that he jumped overboard, much to the surprise of the occupants of the bridge.

"Haku, come with us." Naruto said, slugging the lifeless Zabuza over his shoulder.  
"What do you intend to do with him?" She asked defensively.  
"Give him a proper burial, that's all." Naruto said, smiling in an attempt to ease the girl a little. She nodded her head in understanding before grabbing his sword.

"Ah, allow me." Naruto said, drawing a complex seal on the girl's wrist in black ink, she was confused but when the sword was suddenly sealed within it she was thankful.  
"So…where are we heading?" She asked with a smile, but without an answer Naruto just followed in Sasuke's footsteps, jumping of the bridge only for Haku to follow suit.

"It's payday." Naruto grinned as the three ran across the water, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk.

On the bridge Kakashi wondered what would happen to the three of them, of course this meeting would have to be mentioned to the hokage; even if the boys seemed to be only putting on a performance they did harm his team.

"_Not without warning though." _He considered thinking of the many times offered them a simple deal.

"_Well at least I have something to think about on the way home." _He thought with a sigh.

* * *

Hope you liked it!

Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows! They're really appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

"Hmm… A troubling matter indeed…Kakashi are there any other details you forgot to mention?" The hokage questioned as the injured genin team had already been treated within the hospital located in the wave country, the three of them stood nervously in the office as they gave as Kakashi gave the Hokage there debriefing.  
"Well there was another encounter on the bridge with the ones who injured my team, actually." Kakashi informed, the third raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Good work you three, you are dismissed for now." The Hokage said with a warm smile, the cherry blossom just nodded and silently headed out of the room along with her two team mates knowing that what the two were about to talk about was important. Still she would have liked to have given her input, even if it may have been a little biased.

"So, who else did you combat on that bridge Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked as he took a long drag on his pipe, whoever the man met he had a feeling that it would be problematic.  
"Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." Kakashi answered, seeing the hokage exhale the dark smoke was enough to show his surprise at the sudden revealing of his secondary opponents.

"They're alive? Kakashi, if you may, I would like a detailed account of the incident." The hokage ordered as he stroked his chin, contemplating the facts that he had just heard, he thought that after all this time of not hearing from the boys they were surely already dead.

"They appeared to be siding with the business man Gato as mercenaries; they fought alongside a young girl named Haku, although it was difficult to tell if it was their plans or simply because the situation required extra help." Kakashi reported as he saw the old man calculate his response.

"Their plans? What did these consist of?" Hiruzen asked hopefully, now intrigued by the two, hoping that they weren't a threat to Konoha in anyway.  
"Apparently they already succeeded." Kakashi said as he scratched the back of his head nervously.  
"Succeeded with what." The Hokage interrogated.  
"It turns out that they were double crossing Gato the whole time." Kakashi replied with a sigh, he wasn't looking forward to explaining the rest of the events to the man before him.

"How so? Details Kakashi, I need details." He said somewhat impatiently and the jounin nodded in response.  
"During the skirmish on the bridge the two of them kept asking for our surrender, for us to hand over the bridge builder and allow them to leave." Kakashi started, the old man sitting behind the desk nodding for him to continue.

"Of course with our mission to defend Tazuna we had no intention of handing him over, we questioned their motives several times but they simply replied saying that they needed the builder alive and that he was in no danger, as if they were being watched and couldn't reveal their plans."

"Watched by whom?" The Hokage intervened.  
"Gato, I assume, which is probably why he arrived on the scene near the climax of the battle." Hiruzen just nodded to Kakashi's reply, hoping for him to give further details.  
"It was surprising to see the boys mercilessly kill all of the mercenaries as well as Gato but what was more confusing was that they kept claiming to want to help the wave country, as soon as they had ended Gato's miserable existence they told Tazuna of a warehouse said to be Gato's headquarters, after visiting the warehouse an incredibly large amount of money was looted from the place."

This only helped to confuse Hiruzen, he wasn't sure of the motives of the boys, at first they seemed to want the bridge builder for the mercenary job's pay, but in the events Kakashi explained their actions seemed to go against that objective.

"You said that you combatted the two of them?" The hokage asked steering the conversation in a different direction.  
"That's right. I fought with Sasuke while Naruto fought both Kiba and Shikamaru, however Sasuke was the one to injure Kiba's arm, the boy is lucky he didn't suffer major degree burns." Kakashi evaluated as he remembered Kiba's attitude on the bridge.

"Burns?" The hokage questioned.  
"Kiba despite my orders attacked the two of them but not without calling them traitors of the leaf several times, he used his fang over fang technique as a direct attack on the two, however Naruto used a wind technique, I thought this was a measure to combat the technique but Sasuke ignited the wind with his own technique, if I hadn't used a water jutsu to hold of the attack while Kiba escaped I'm not even sure he'd be alive." Kakashi described, the look on the Hokages face becoming somewhat grim.

"So your team attacked first, despite clear instructions not to combat them without knowing their motives." Hiruzen asked as he locked his hands together, leaning over the table awaiting Kakashi's answer.

"That's right. Despite being told numerous times Kiba still attacked the two of them his reckless behaviour is something I _will_ be taking care of." Kakashi commented with no mild annoyance, the Hokage calmed himself seeing as the jounin was obviously against the actions the young Inuzuka had taken.

"More importantly, they know a lot. Sasuke knows about the massacre, and Naruto knows about the fox in fact he even gave us a live performance in his control, Sasuke has also fully matured his sharingan." Kakashi said delivering the bad news in one fast blow.

"Hmmm…that is quite the worrying matter. How did they react to seeing Konoha ninja, this is what I'd like to know, if they are hostiles or not." Hiruzen said with a voice that was serious, he meant business.

"They didn't appear to be hostile, giving us many chances to leave quietly, and I'm sure if they wanted to do they could have dispatched my genin squad easily. With the two of them and their accomplice Haku they may have even took me out." Kakashi spoke despite the tension in the room.

"Are they on good terms with this Haku girl?" The Hokage wondered aloud.  
"She seems to have taken their offer to join them. After the battle they made her the proposition and soon after the three of them were gone, it seems like they got their payment from Gato from his headquarters as when we arrived there were dead mercenaries littered around the place."

"Kakashi." Hiruzen said before sitting back in his chair folding his arms.  
"Do you think your team is ready? It has been two weeks since wave and the preliminaries for the Chuunin exams are only a few days away." He continued, Kakashi felt pressured, but thought his team were capable.

"I'll extend to them the offer. I'll leave it to them to decide." He answered with a heavy sigh, his team had recovered from wave and we're back in good condition.  
"Then you are dismissed for now Kakashi." The Hokage said with a smile, nodding politely the jounin flashed away in a shunshin.

"Are you two sure this is a good idea?" Haku asked a little concerned as they neared the large gates, but the two smirked confidently. The three of them wearing headbands from the mist, the country hadn't sent any genin, so there was no one to confront them on the matter.

The two wore the hitai ate around their arms whereas Haku chose to wear hers as a forehead protector. Sasuke wore sunglasses to disguise his eyes as well as allowing Haku to put his hair into a small ponytail that made him look like a little like Itachi, his long bangs however were still present.

Haku wore her hair in a pulled back pony tail also but had decided to pull back her bangs, making her appearance largely different from back in wave; this was a precaution that she took in case she ran into those genin or their jounin leader Kakashi.

Naruto was wearing a face mask similar to kakashi's hiding his whisker marks from view and after a gruelling battle Haku had managed to flatten the blondes hair after cutting away some of its thickness, Naruto was pleased with their disguises and they headed to their destination. The village hidden in the leaves.

"Remember why we are, Haku, this is important." Sasuke replied to the girl, she sighed knowing that it would be worth the trip but hidden villages weren't places she felt comfortable.  
"It shouldn't be hard for me to obtain my father's sword." Sasuke followed up before running a hand through his hair.

"It's your clan's scrolls that will be a problem." The raven sighed; the thought of getting into the hokage tower was troubling.  
"Yeah…but with the exams we've got time to come up with something."  
"Ah, we were closer than I thought." Haku said as the large gates came into sight, she readied the documents they had created to get them in as Mist ninja.

"Welcome to Konoha, got your documents?" The Chuunin asked happily, Sasuke handed them over, the man looked into his glasses and then Chuunin shook his head as if he zoned out.  
"Ah of course, these are fine." He said smiling before handing them back to the three of them.  
"Good luck in the exams!" He shouted as they walked away, the three of them waved a final goodbye before walking further into the village.

"Mist, huh?" They heard a bored voice say, they almost reacted as they recognized kakashi's voice.  
"That's right! We're here to show everyone what we're made of!" Naruto said enthusiastically, quite different from the him that was displayed on the bridge back in wave. The silver hair jounin just eye smiled before stroking his chin.

"Hmm, I didn't think Mist sent any candidates this year." He hinted at the three, thinking of them as suspicious.  
"Well, it's kinda a secret, not even our jounin sensei knows…but this is for our home! We can't let them down!" Naruto answered with determination that made Kakashi 'hmmm' as he considered his response.

"You look strong mister, perhaps you could act as our sensei while we're here?" Haku asked politely but the jounin just chuckled.  
"Sorry, but I already have three troublemakers." He said with an eye smile, Haku found it fascinating how someone could be so different from when they were in battle.  
"Maybe we could meet them some time." Sasuke said in stoic manner, this caught Kakashi off guard but he saw no reason why not, it would give him the chance to see if these three really were just some eager mist genin or not.

"We have our training in an hour at ground eleven, your welcome to come along; I had to explain to them the offer of the Chuunin exam anyway." Kakashi said with a smile, Naruto grinned, before asking.

"Is there any where we can get something to eat? I'm starving." He said with a chuckle.

After receiving the directions they were instructed to goto a ramen stall not far down the street from here, the people seemed friendly Naruto thought, it was a nice change from his usual treatment within the village and even Haku's anxiousness seemed to have faded.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Ino said as she pulled herself from the chest of the blonde male she had 'fallen' on.  
"You alright?" Naruto asked as he looked at Ino strangely, he never remembered her being clumsy, the girl lit up with a shade of red as he helped her stand.  
"I-I'm alright, I just tripped. Thanks." She answered nervously, to her surprise Naruto just smiled underneath his black mask and sat back down again. Being the stubborn girl that she was she decided to sit down next to him.

"Can I have a veggie ramen please Ayame? I'm trying to watch my figure." She said with a small chuckle before looking at the blonde's reaction, she was surprised to see him eating his ramen while talking amongst his group.

"Umm? What did you order?" she asked sweetly as she leaned over to the blonde slightly, but he just shrugged.  
"I just got the recommended dish." He said with a smile, it was weird for someone to be trying to get a conversation out of him like this.  
"Nice shades!" She said to the Uchiha in disguise, who offered a smirk in response.  
"Ahh, he doesn't talk much." Naruto covered for the raven, as Ino's attention changed back to him luckily however they had finished their meals just as Ino's had arrived.

"Well it was nice meeting you, enjoy your meal." He said before the three of them left towards the training ground eleven, the village wasn't hard to navigate as nothing had changed since the boys remembered, the directions being a simple getaway from the questioning jounin.

"I don't get it. Why are we going to their training session?" Haku said as they neared the grounds.  
"He thinks we're suspicious." Sasuke answered before pushing open the large gate that led to training ground eleven, he could already see the cherry blossom from here; her bright hair would probably sting his eyes if it wasn't for his shades.

"So you came after all!" The jounin shouted them over; they smiled as they approached the genin.  
"Nice to meet you all!" Naruto said merrily with a large grin, Sasuke nodded a greeting and Haku merely smiled.

"Hey! What's with the mask?" Kiba asked immediately as he came over to the three of them.  
"All good ninja should have one!" Naruto answered looking at Kakashi and back to Kiba.  
"Hmph! I don't need a mask." He said before grinning at the blonde after folding his arms.

"Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno. Welcome to Konoha, it must have been a long trip from the mist." She said with a smile, Haku took this question knowing the distance personally.  
"You wouldn't believe how many times we had to stop to rest! I thought my legs were going to fall off!" She said trying to mimic Naruto's upbeat attitude.

Sakura giggled in response before Shikamaru lazily introduced himself.  
"Yo." He said rubbing his head before sighing in his usual manner.

"The reason I asked for these ninja to come is that they are taking part in the upcoming Chuunin exam. They're in a number of days in fact. The Hokage as told me to offer you a position within them." Kakashi explained to his students that looked a little nervous before Kiba spoke up.

"Of course we'll take them! Right Shikamaru!?" He asked looking to the lazy boy for back up.  
"I don't think you'll let me say it's too much work will you? …Troublesome." He replied not without sighing to show his deep dislike for anything that didn't involve watching the clouds lazily.

"Sakura?" Kakashi questioned awaiting her response.  
"Yeah…I think we'll do alright." She said with a smile, the jounin nodded.  
"Right then, I guess I'll go inform the hokage. You kids get along." He said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Neat." Naruto said faking surprise at the shunshin.

"Oi, Oi! I bet you three can't do this!" Kiba said before racing towards and immediately running up it until he reached the top.  
"Heh! How about that?!" He shouted down to the three mist genin.  
"We can all do it." Sakura said hoping to surprise their guests.

"Wow, where'd you learn to do something like that?" Haku asked in mock amazement.  
"Our jounin sensei taught it to us during a mission in the wave country…it's not all that hard." Shikamaru answered before lying down on the ground watching the clouds, seizing his opportunity to do so.

Kiba leapt down from the tree.  
"Hey! Hey! That's not all we can do, I'll show you one of my own techniques!" but before he could continue Naruto stepped in.  
"Whoa! You shouldn't be showing people things like that! We'll be your opponents after all, we don't wanna be called cheaters." The blonde advised as he put his hand on Kiba's shoulder causing the boy to wince in pain.

"Hmm seems you've got a trapped nerve." Naruto analysed before pushing a wave of green chakra through the boys arm.  
"Ow!" Kiba complained as he rubbed his stinging arm, the blonde smiled under his mask.  
"That should make it feel better; he knows a little healing jutsu after all." Haku commented happily, Kakashi was reassured that these three were nothing to worry about although the dark haired stoic boy he was not so sure about.

"He's right Kiba you shouldn't be showing off your moves so casually, come over here, I'd like to speak to you." He said rather formally as he disappeared to the far end of the training ground waiting for the Inuzuka who was now walking towards the jounin with a downcast look, he knew what he was in for and was glad it was Kakashi who was punishing him and not the Hokage.

"Kiba. You need to start acting more like a ninja and less like a little kid and I mean it. You're lucky you weren't locked up for the way you acted in Wave country, you went against the Hokages orders back there." The jounin lectured as he looked down at the genin who was clenching his fists.

"I knew I could beat them! What's wrong with that!?" Kiba shouted back and before he could react a fist struck him in the ribs and he was left rolling across the ground from the force. He managed to get up on all fours to catch his breath before looking up at his Jounin instructor angrily.

"That's the thing Kiba. You couldn't. I'm not trying to belittle you but you couldn't even see that attack. From now on, I won't be accepting your attitude problems, we can do this the nice way and you don't get hurt. Or you can keep pushing me, I am a jounin instructor for a reason and I won't let you get yourself get killed because I didn't discipline you correctly." Kakashi said feeling responsible for Kiba's attitude nearly getting the boy bathed in flames back in wave country.

"Of course I didn't see it, you're a jounin!" Kiba retorted angrily as he got to his feet.  
"Actually, that was the speed that Sasuke was seen using, and I'm not even sure those two were trying." The silver haired jounin instructor informed.

"The preliminaries for the exams are tomorrow, I know you'll do well Kiba but only if you get that temper in check, without it clouding your judgement you'd be far stronger." Kakashi sighed before nodding his head in the direction that the rest of his genin squad were, silently ordering the Inuzuka to follow him.

"So are you looking forward to the exams?" Sakura asked the stoic looking boy, he had been quite uninvolved in the whole talk so far and she felt like she was almost shunning him.  
"It'll be a way to prove that mist ninja are stronger than people think, I just hope I can do my village proud." Sasuke said happily which shocked the girl slightly.

"Sakura was it? Hmmm are you looking forward to the exams?" He said returning her question, Sakura's eyes widened slightly as his voice reminded her of Sasuke, not fighting back the strange thought like she did in wave she decided to take action.

"Take off your sunglasses please." She said almost desperately, just as Kakashi and Kiba arrived over.  
"Sakura, don't be rude." Shikamaru said from the ground as he looked into the clouds  
"Sakur-"Kakashi was about to join in before the cherry blossom girl shouted angrily.

"Sasuke! Take off your sunglasses!" She said as she reached for the sunglasses herself, but before she could took them a hand felt her wrist and her movement was stopped in place.  
"These glasses are important to me, I'd rather you not touch them, allow me." He said as he slid of his glasses coolly.

"I don't like to show my eyes for their unorthodox colour, I didn't believe it would be such an issue." He said calmly as the girl looked into his sparkling golden eyes.  
"I was sure…You! Take off your mask!" She whipped around to the blonde.  
"You have to be Naruto!" She said much to the despair of her team mates.

The blonde took of his mask a few seconds after being told to do so, it slid down to his neck revealing a scar running through his lips, the blonde looked at her in fake confusion.

"Umm what's going on? Did we do something wrong?" He asked the silver haired jounin who merely sighed at Sakura's act, she was making them look like a bunch of mental illness patients rather than competent ninja.

"Sorry, Sakura has been a little shaken from her previous mission, it may be best if you leave." Kakashi offered scratching his head nervously.  
"It's them Kakashi-sensei I know it!"  
"Right…well umm good luck in your exams…" Haku said acting along with the situation as the three turned to leave.

"Phew, that was close." Naruto said back in town, they headed to their hotel room, a cosy place not far from the central business district; the building was decorated heavily with wood on the inside that gave it a sort of log cabin kind of feel, but the team didn't take the time to admire their room as they transformed into spiders, henge could be incredibly useful at times. They crawled out of their room and headed towards their destination, they had to admit it would take a while to get their like this but at least they would be undetected.

It was empty just like Sasuke remembered, the buildings hadn't been taken care off and there was an eerie feel to the air as they scuttled through the Uchiha compound and soon enough they reached Sasuke's house. Not undoing their disguises just yet they waited until they were in the secret Uchiha hideout within the building.

"That took longer than expected." Haku said enjoying the feeling of not being an insect, as the blonde nodded in agreement.  
"Just where I left it." Sasuke said as he picked up his father's sword, he knew it to be a chakra conductor but instead of sheathing it and putting it on his back, he examined the thin rectangular handle with the Uchiha crest on it, the blade not overly long, a comfortable short sword that could be used with just one hand. He stretched out his wrist to Naruto who complied by drawing the seal.

"That should do it!" The blonde said happily as the raven sealed his father's sword with a smile.  
"A shame I won't be able to use it in the exams." Haku just nodded knowing the feeling  
"That makes two of us." Sasuke couldn't help but 'hmph' to that, while he was more than sure Haku was strong enough to loft around that sword he thought it would look rather strange.

"Let's get some rest. The preliminaries will probably be easy, but we can't get too cocky." Sasuke spoke before the others nodded, tomorrow the exams would begin and although they didn't particularly care about the rank they would have to participate while they came up with a plan to get into the Hokage tower.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it!

Sorry for the long time it took to update I ll be sure to update faster for the next chapter.

Thanks to all those who've reviewed added to favourites and those who are following the story.


	10. Chapter 10

"Remember, don't give too much away." Sasuke uttered, while pushing open the door, his eyes clearly saw through the low level genjutsu that was fooling many students below them.  
"_If that's they're level we might actually end up becoming Chuunin."_ He thought to himself as they walked into the great hall.

"Wow, sure are a lot of people here, I wonder how all of this will work." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head at the great number of opposition in front of them.

"Probably a series of tests, designed to get rid of as many graduates as possible, and then one final test, well I think that's how it works in mist anyway." Haku explained thinking back to her time in mist, the boys nodded in understanding; they didn't have much of an idea of how academics were taught or the tests that took place even if Kyuu did teach them all they needed to know.

"**They shouldn't be any problems; you're more capable than any of these amateurs." **Kyuu encouraged as they tried to ignore the chattering people as a crowd began to form, soon the large, dull grey room had filled up with people from various villages, as planned there was no other members from mist.

"Hmph! Losers from mist, such a weak village, no wonder there are so few of you here!" An earth ninja insulted as he walked past them.  
"Yeah I bet these are the only genin they have!" another mocked as they followed the group.  
"Sorry did you say something?" Haku retaliated as they turned around again to look at her.

"Yeah, we did. We said your village is weak, what are you gunna do about it?" The earth Genin hit back, looking forward to getting into a fight he presumed he could win so early on in the exam.  
"Oh it was just another insect buzzing around after all." She berated, faking a yawn she turned back to Sasuke and Naruto who looked rather smug after seeing Haku handle the situation.

"Good luck in the exams, oh mighty mist ninja, ha! You'll need it." They tormented, their voices laced heavily with sarcasm they began walking away again with cocky laughter although suddenly in a puff of smoke the first instructor appeared.

"Alright you miserable bunch, let's get these exams started!" The instructor yelled as people started disappearing into the room behind him.

"It seems it has begun." Sasuke spoke as the three slowly followed the crowd but Sasuke couldn't help but feel the glares he was getting from other examinees, it must have been the mist head band.

Soon the three of them had been seated, a written exam in front of them wasn't exactly what they had been expecting, it seemed like the rules of the test forced people into cheating although the rules also punished those who got caught, that was the keyword, those who were caught. This wasn't just a written test but a test of gathering information, however the three 'mist' ninja found it easy to just write the answers down.

The answers were all easy enough to them because they had so much field experience, actually living on the battlefield and not safe in some village meant that they had been in most of the scenarios that the test asked them to provide solutions too, but even still the test seemed to easy.

"_Maybe it would be hard for fresh genin, but I doubt it would pose a challenge to some of the more experienced ones here." _Sasuke thought to himself as he looked around the room, the various genin cheating was pretty easy to spot and he guessed the examiners had to give them some leeway to make sure at least some of them passed.

To the ravens surprise though the examiner suddenly spoke up.

"Alright! Time's up. Now I will ask you the final part of the exam, if you get it wrong your whole team fails and you'll never be able to take the Chuunin test ever again, that's right, genin for life. But if you pass then you advance on to the next stage. Those who forfeit now will be able to take the test again. So! What will be!? Those who want to leave do it now!" The instructor bellowed despite the class already being silent.

Gazes shifted across the class, the genin nervous of this new question, some gave in to the pressure, raising their teams and accepting the title of genin for another year, and soon the numbers began to dwindle although a good few remained.

"Well done! All of you pass! The real tenth question was if you had the courage to continue even with the risk of never becoming a Chuunin, now your next instru-" He was interrupted with the window to the left of him smashing , a banner sailed through, it pinned itself to the wall before unravelling to reveal the name of this new intruder.

"I'm Anko! I'll be the instructor for the next part of the Chuunin exams! That's right, these tests are only beginning, and it gets worse from here in out!" She declared with a confident smirk but the previous instructor looked rather irritated.

"Anko…never mind, just take them to the next point already." He started, though he soon realised that he would only be wasting his breath on the crazy woman; she just chuckled while moving towards the door.

"Come on brats! Follow me!" she ordered beckoning them by waving her hand towards the exit. The passing members stood from their desks and began to leave the room, only an hour and a half had passed on the written test had started and the day had only just entered the evening, but the sky was already darkening and soon it would be night.

"Welcome to the forest of death!" Anko bellowed in front of the awe inspired genin, the small steel fence prohibiting entry was tiny in comparison to the colossal trees behind it, it was not the average forest, that was for sure, and although it was only evening the forest seemed darker due to the density of the trees, the smell of bark and dirt thick in the air.

Naruto covered his mouth as he yawned.

His instincts flared as he saw the jounin instructor disappear, and suddenly he had a cut on the side of his face, piercing his mask the blood threatened to stain his clothes but before the crimson liquid could travel any further he felt a tongue lap at the wound, after licking him the woman whispered in his ear.  
"Try to stay awake; it could be the difference between life and death."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Naruto replied from the comfort of a nearby tree branch. Anko growled, a smirk spread across her face, someone with a love of practical jokes was uncommon around Konoha.  
"A show off huh?" She asked as the clone behind her disappeared into a cloud of smoke.  
"No one's a better show off than me kid so don't even try." She spoke calmly as she turned her back to the slightly shocked genin that were waiting the exam briefing.

"The rules of this test are… Will you get down here!?" she shouted angrily at the tree ordering Naruto to come down he offered a nervous grin and rubbed his head apologetically and the purple haired jounin just huffed, wanting to get on with her explanation.

"As I was saying, you'll need to sign these contracts, your life will be in danger here, and there won't be jounin instructors there to save you, this is a test after all, so we won't be responsible for you if you "don't make it." Now that the boring bits are out of the way –"

"Boring bits!? We could die!" One of the genin amongst the crowd interrupted.  
"If you shout out while im talking again you _will_ die!" Anko yelled as she felt a vein appear on her forehead, she thrust out two scrolls into plain view.

"Heaven scroll, Earth scroll, your team will be given one of these, it's your objective to obtain the one that you don't have possession of, after that you're to head the tower within the forest for your next briefing. Alright, those of you who aren't complete cowards come sign the damn papers!" Anko ordered then marched over to the small wooden hut constructed for the purposes of signing the papers and discreetly handing out the Heaven and Earth Scrolls.

"Hmph. You may be good at showing off, but don't think it will help you in the exam, nothing gets past these eyes." An overly confident boy with lavender eyes commented, his forehead covered by his hitai ate.

"Is that so Neji, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Naruto answered with a smirk, Neji frowned at the annoyance the blonde was presenting, for some reason he couldn't stay calm against his cocky attitude.  
"I don't remember telling you my name." Neji stated while glaring at the blonde whose smile only grew as he seemed to be irritating the seemingly stuck up Hyuuga.  
"I thought nothing got past your eyes, well I guess you were bluffing." Naruto answered calmly as the Hyuuga who was now seething with rage.

"As I said, you are good at showing off, but it's your destiny to lose to those superior to you in this exam." He answered as he regained his composure but Naruto merely chuckled at this.  
"Then it doesn't look like I will be defeated by you any time soon." He retaliated, turning to Haku while shrugging his shoulders as she laughed at the way the Hyuuga was constantly being shot down.

"Think highly of yourself while you still can, if necessary I will kill you to fulfil my destiny." He folded his arms turning away towards the signing desk, Naruto just looked over his shoulder to see Sasuke smirking at the defeat of the Hyuuga. Their teammates consisted of Rock Lee and TenTen both of which had been studied by the boys before they left the village.

Naruto thought to himself about the challenge that Neji had offered, he considered that previous to the meeting in wave he may have been wary of the Genin's strength however after seeing how genin were in wave, confidently demolishing a full team of genin by himself fresh or not shouldn't have been so easy. Neji may have been more experienced giving that he was a year older, he was also known to be naturally talented and a prodigy, yet Naruto didn't think he'd live up to his own words, not after the fights he and Sasuke had barely lived through when fighting to the death with roaming ninja just to gain the strength to ward of even tougher opponents.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as the jounin instructor called their team's name, after signing the documents that clearly indicated that Konoha would not be held responsible for anyone who died during the examination, they were ready to begin the test.

Entering the forest of death. The colossal forest seemed to travel far beyond what the eye could see, the trees themselves a height that could be only described as unnatural.

"Excited?! You should be! Now, all of you shut up while I explain what's going on and let's get this show on the road." Anko roared happily, as if the exam was nothing but her personal entertainment, she had to admit she did like watching the Chuunin exams, but having a front row seat was the best.

"Seems like it only gets harder from here, how troublesome." Shikamaru supposed, he couldn't help letting out a sigh, Kiba however looked more excited than ever to prove that he was not just a hot-headed genin, he was ready to show that he and his team has what it takes to become Chuunin.

"Oi! Oi! Shikamaru! We have to win this and show to everyone that we're the strongest genin team!" He shouted enthusiastically in an attempt to get his team mates pumped for the exam.  
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with." Shikamaru replied, apparently Kiba's attitude wasn't infectious.

"The forest of death is a circular area surrounded by forty four locked gate entrances, there's the forest, a river and your objective, the tower in the middle of the circular region. The tower is approximately ten kilometres from the gates. Inside you'll be competing for the Heaven and Earth scrolls that have been handed to you. Once your inside, its anything goes. Twenty six teams passed the first exam, half of these received the Heaven scroll and the other half received the Earth Scroll. All of your team mates must be present in the tower in order for you to pass, not only that, this exam has a time limit of one hundred and twenty hours, in other words five days."

"Five days?! We're going to be in this place for five days?!" One genin shouted.  
"Well, it depends on how quickly you finish the exam, if you finish it at all that is." Anko answered

"Are we allowed to give up while inside?" Shikamaru asked lazily as he rubbed the back of his neck.  
"Shikamaru! What are you thinking!?" Kiba quickly interrupted.  
"As a rule there will be no quitting during the exam. Too bad." Anko explained with a smirk much to Kiba's joy, this way there was no way Shikamaru could drop out half way through the test.  
"As expected, how troublesome." He groaned, this causing Sakura to let out a heavy sigh of her own.

"Oh and by the way. Anyone who looks inside the scrolls will be immediately disqualified." Anko mentioned, teasing her crowd, much to her delight a genin questioned her.  
"What happens if we do look inside? Is it something important." The genin asked.  
"Who knows, it might be something amazing! Wouldn't it be interesting to find out? As a Chuunin you'll be expected to be handling important documents, this is a test of your reliability." She tempted, maybe she was being just a little too hard on this bunch.

"A word of advice. Try not to die. Now, head to your gates and let's get this started!" She commanded as the murmuring of genin commenced as they began heading to their respective starting positions, not quite sure on what they'd be facing inside the forest.

Gate 16.  
"Oi Shikamaru, you better not be lazy! We have to win this!" Kiba enthusiastically shouted,  
"Yeah, yeah, I have to admit even I am a bit excited for this." He agreed.  
"That's more like it!" The Inuzuka declared as he fist pumped into the air to show his enthusiasm.  
"After wave I feel like we need to test ourselves against other genin." Sakura responded glumly, the mood faded somewhat as the remembered the events of their first C (A) Rank mission.

"…Uh…we'll prove we can become strong ninja." Kiba told his team calmly, remembering Kakashi's words about his attitude, he'd do his best to control his temper from now on.  
"I'll need you two to keep me in check. I'm counting on you." He said with a serious tone.  
"Kiba…" Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder where this serious side came from but had to guess it had something to do with the private conversation between the dog boy and their silver haired jounin sensei.

"Still, it's a shame that Choji couldn't take part. With those two we met in wave not entering the academy the numbers meant that the poor guy doesn't even have a team yet. Still at least he doesn't have to do something so troublesome." Shikamaru changed topic hoping to ease the mood a little.

Gate 27.

"Remember! We have to go after Sakura's lame team! I heard they got beat around in wave, we'll do the same to them here!" Ino declared war as thoughts of a certain cherry blossom passed through her head.  
"Ano…Ino…didn't you say we should target the mist team?" Hinata questioned with a mouse like volume, fireworks seemed to go off in the blondes mind but she shook them off.  
"As much as I'd like to…We don't know how strong they are, other than us I'd say Sakura's team had to be the weakest!" She strategized, the shy girl only nodded to the blondes confident decision while Shino remained stoic.

Gate 20.

"Huhuhuhu… We'll be able to complete our tasks easily and everyone will know just how strong the sound village is." Dosu thought aloud after seeing what he thought to be weak competition, the genin around him all seemed to be fresh from the academy with little experience in battle after all.

Gate 6.

_"5 days…alone with Gaara…are me and Temari even safe?" _ Kankuro was thinking to himself as they prepared to enter the forest with their unstable brother, the sand jinchuuriki was standing calm and stoic for now, Kankuro hoped it would stay that way but knew that Gaara was capable of snapping at any given moment.

Gate 41

"Destiny will prove us to be the victors. Nothing will stop us, I expect you two not to hold back."  
"Of course, Neji, we're here to win after all." TenTen replied confidently while Rock lee was busying himself stretching.

"_Just wait Gai-sensei, we'll pass for sure!" _ Lee promised himself, excited for the exam he had to admit that he was nervous, but it was also a good opportunity to measure his strength.

"We will now begin the Chuunin exams!" Anko roared and with that the gates were launched open and immediately the genin sprang into action.

Gate 12.

"Let's go. Make sure to look out for those three, if they see us they might recognize who we are, last time was close enough." Sasuke commanded, the other two nodded in agreement, Naruto wondered however just what they were planning to do while in the forest.

"So how are we going to do this then?" He questioned hoping to come up with a strategy while they slowly walked through the undergrowth of the dense forest, something they would be doing a lot of over the course of the next few days.  
"We could take out as many teams as we can, or we could get a scroll and head straight to the tower, it doesn't really matter, we just need to pass." He continued as Haku nodded, politely showing she was listening to raven's ideas.

"We have a score to settle with those earth ninja." She spoke sternly, having her home village insulted irritated her it seemed, it caused her to wonder why, seeing as she hadn't been to the village hidden in the mist in so long, she considered it to be a natural thing to protect ones birthplace.  
"Hmm, they started nearby; I hardly expect they'll be worth your resentment though." Sasuke informed with a smirk, Haku frowned somewhat, she didn't like it when the two of them saw her angry it ruined her kind, innocent image.

"You know I'm not one for aggression Sasuke-kun." She chirped with an overly sweet tone that he had learnt was a warning, though he didn't take much notice.

"How silly of me, honestly, what a weird company I share." He said happily, attempting to further irritate the ice user, it seemed like it would be his entertainment over the course of the exam.  
"**I agree. All three of you are strange.**" Kyuu commented, Naruto could feel her swishing her tails around as she often did when trying to provoke them, the boys were more than used it now however.

"Looks like we won't even need to look for those Iwa idiots." Naruto spotted, Sasuke nodded in agreement although Haku couldn't help but feel out of the loop.  
"Why's that?" She asked curious of what they meant, she knew their sight was better than hers but most of the time they failed to fill her in on what they saw, she imagined it was due to them only working as a two man unit for so long with similar long ranged vision.  
"They're straight ahead. Could be a trap. Naruto, you know what to do." Sasuke smirked confidently.  
"Yes sir." Naruto answered happily with a mock salute, crossing his fingers he formed a hand seal.

"**Shadow clone Jutsu**." He whispered bringing three clones to life, which then transformed into Haku and Sasuke, immediately after they began sprinting at the earth squad while the real Naruto as well as Sasuke and Haku took to the tree tops to watch what happened.

"Talk about amateurs! Completely defenceless!" The Naruto clone shouted, running straight at the targets, the overly pleased looking genin turned to them and spoke.  
"Got you." With a cut of a wire kunai whizzed in every direction eradicating the Naruto clone, the Sasuke and Haku clone persevered avoiding the trap and rushing in to hopefully activate any others.

"Not done yet!" the ninja cried as he sprung another trap, the ground below sank below the clones, as it did large spears of earth formed essentially killing the clones.

"Hmph! We knew from the first time we saw you that you were weak!" He shouted while turning to the other members of his group, the three shared a laugh, before scanning the area.

"Come out you weaklings! We're feeling kind, since you came all the way here from mist, if you give us your scroll, we might let you live!" The second genin shouted as he brushed through his brown spikey hair, the loose bangs that fell over his head band causing irritation as his black eyes surveyed the area.

"**Suiton: Water dragon**!" Haku shouted as she flashed into plain sight, from the tree tops she had a fine shot on them as the dragon thundered towards its targets below. The genin who set the trap immediately set into action, his earthy over coat that matched his simple tied back brown hair followed him like an afterimage as he leapt into the course of the water dragon.

"**Doton: Barrier**!" He raised his arms to the air and formed a roof like cover of earth above the three of them, the dragon collided with the attack and water dispersed around the area, leaving the small clearing coated in moisture.

"Ha! If that's all you have you might as well give up now!" The third genin shouted, he looked confident in his team's victory as he rolled his shoulders, his long burnt orange hair shifting with their movement.

"You're as stupid as you look." Haku responded calmly, confident in her victory against the three genin in front of her, she doubted they would even offer any form of challenge.

"Where are the other two!?" The second genin quickly panicked, her statement making him think that they had fallen for a deadly trap that was about to be sprung.  
"I don't require their assistance." Haku interrupted before forming hand seals with one hand.  
"What the hell?! One-handed seals?!" The third genin shouted as the three of them raised their guards expecting another aerial attack, to their horror the attack didn't come from the air.

"**Hoton: Crystal Cemetery.**" She spoke softly, cold sweat dripped from the Genin's face in anticipation of what was to come, quicker than movements could escape the moisture dispersed from the water technique exploded into action, forming hundreds of icicles that rose from the ground in an instant.

"Ahhhhhhh!" A blood curdling cry was their last actions as they couldn't even fall to the floor, suspended by the numerous icicles that pierced them they died standing, the frozen area standing out from the rest of the forest making the imprisoned genin look like a piece of art, a sophisticated monument of death.

"Do not underestimate the mist." Haku warned with finality then left to meet her other team mates, although she did not enjoy killing it was people like them that made the job a lot easier.  
"By that scream I take it things went well." Naruto asked only to receive a faint smile from the girl.  
"A shame they only had a Heaven scroll." Sasuke complained before sealing it away into one of Naruto's wrist tattoos that were hidden by his jacket.  
"It may come in useful I suppose." Naruto groaned as he rolled down his jacket sleeve to cover the seal tattoo again.  
"Let's continue." Haku said which earned a nod from the two boys as they began to proceed through the undergrowth once again.

"Lee, slow down, there is plenty of time for us to dispose of the enemy and gain their scroll." TenTen pleaded as the miniature Gai continue to speed up.  
"Hot blooded fool. At least he isn't holding us back." Neji considered as they matched lee's pace.  
"Sorry! I can't sit still when I know there are strong enemies waiting for us!" Lee shouted energetically.

"There!" TenTen shouted in a hushed tone. They immediately descended from the treetops and into some bushes attempting to hide unlike the opponent who was stood in clear sight.

"Kukukuku…so you've arrived…Neji-kun!" The womanly figure exclaimed, clearly happy with the state of events as she turned to look straight towards the bush they were hidden in, deciding it was no use they leapt out into the small clearing around them, the large trees casting thick shadows that seemed to side with the figure stood in the unidentified figure in the centre of the clearing.

"It's not surprising that you know of my name, if that's what you were hoping to accomplish." Neji spat almost disgusted with the very presence of the person in front of them.  
"An attitude that will need to be adjusted…still I remain interested…hmhmhm!" the figures strange giggling and general presence was off putting to the three but they fell into a stance and prepared themselves.

"So eager to die?" The stranger asked with a fierce tone as if baffled by the very thought of them attempting to engage in combat. They faltered by the question alone, but shown no sign of backing down from the challenge.

Before they could respond however the figures eyes widened, pressure filled the air and breathing suddenly became an impossible task. Flashing images passed through their minds, images of their brutal end to this mortal defying being that stood in front of them, the reoccurring presence of snakes in each of them.

"Wasted after all?" The figure questioned as they drew three shuriken, lazily they threw the metal projectiles with the intention to kill the immobilised genin.  
"Byakugan!" Neji quickly shouted dispersing the thin layer of chakra laced within the killing intent, he barely managed to push his team mates to the ground to cover.

"Kukukuku…so you are ready to play after all."  
"**Futon: Great Breakthrough!**" the figure raised both hands, each pointing at one of Neji's teammates, immediately Lee and TenTen were hit by a powerful blast of wind, sending them rocketing off into the distance.

"What have you done to them!?" Neji roared, the strange figure remaining perfectly calm despite the aggression Neji spoke with, this irritated the Hyuuga as he was being looked down on by his opponent, how could someone look down on him, one of the mighty Hyuuga.

"Don't worry Neji-kun, they're not important…hmhmhm…what is important is that you impress me." The figure then revealed an overly long tongue as they licked their lips in excitement, a grotesque movement that only served to make Neji dislike the figure even more than he knew was possible.

Neji growled as he fell into a defensive stance, he wasn't sure if he could fight this opponent, for once his pride had retreated and his survival instincts had grabbed the reigns of control, the fight was about to start, he could feel it, this person was undoubtedly powerful .

"Snake!" TenTen cried as lee hurriedly rolled right, out of the way of the giant snake's bite, the creature attacked without warning, and seemed to have its eyes set out on having genin for its meal.  
"Whoa!" Lee exclaimed as it tore through one of the huge trees with ease, the two of them readied themselves for the next move, each of them nodding to the other in preparation. Bark and fragments of tree flew through the air as the colossal snake collided with more trees before turning around to hiss violently at its prey.

"Lee! Be careful." TenTen warned, Lee tightened his bandages and nodded in response, the predator was on the attack again its speed surprising for its size as the two of them were forced to leap out of the way of another deadly attack. TenTen growled as she landed on a tree branch, the snake ignoring her as it focused on Lee, the enemy who was still on the ground.

Its piercing golden eyes met his as he stood his ground.  
"Why don't you try taking on Konoha's green beast!" Lee shouted as he raised his guard against the huge reptile, TenTen not wanting to see the outcome, whipped open her scrolls, a blast of smoke was summoned, soon after weapons of all different kind pierced through it, aiming directly for their predator.

The weapons hit with deadly accuracy along the snakes body, littering it with metal causing it to hiss in pain, it lost balance causing it to fall to the ground for a final time, the multiple weapons causing its death almost instantly as blood flowed from its wounds.

"Good job TenTen!" Lee complimented with a thumbs up, the girl could only muster a sigh in response as she remembered the situation the two of them were in.  
"We have to go help Neji! That guy could be strong!" she commanded attempting to take control of the situation at hand, she took the role of team leader for the time being.  
"Yosh! Let's go save our comrade!" Lee shouted over enthusiastically, not giving the kunoichi time to respond to his antics he raced off in the direction from which they last saw Neji.  
"Lee wait up!" TenTen shouted angrily as she chased after him through the dense forest.

"You killed my pets easily…but don't get over confident just yet…hmhmhmhm!" The snake like being called out to Neji, he was hiding behind a tree, his back against the trunk as he panted for breath, two of the giant snakes lay dead within the clearing, much to the despair of Neji however, the figure causing him so much trouble stood confidently in place, as if the whole scene was nothing but simple entertainment.

"Dammit... I need to calm down…" Neji ordered himself between breaths, he shook his head shaking off the sweat, he leant his head against the bark, his body thankful for the moment of rest.  
"It must be fate that I fight this man, a test of some kind. What is planned for me?" He asked no one in particular, his beliefs following him even in such a battle.

"You're beginning to bore me Neji-kun, such a shame too; I thought you were just getting excited…" The serpents tone sent shivers down his spine that he didn't enjoy, the persons eerie presence was enough to unnerve anyone, keeping them on their toes, but when mixed in with his freakish disgusting actions plus his strange manner of speaking he was became something incredible sinister.  
"Byakugan." He whispered as his vision expanded beyond normal limits. He clenched his fists as he gained the courage he needed to jump out of the tree and face the opponent before him.

"Ahhh…good to see you are finally serious." The strange human commented he began licking his lips in a hungry manner, his serpent like eyes staring into Neji's pupil-less ones as each anticipated an attack from the other.  
**  
**In an instant the predator was attacking, his piercing strikes were similar to the gentle fist as Neji found himself on the defensive however his speed was something to be wary of as he attempted to counter with any given opportunity, the blinding light chakra leaving small burns on his opponent as he struck away the wrist of the attacker.

"Hmhmhmhm! Talented as I expected." The opponent sneered as Neji leapt away, unable to outmatch his opponent with taijutsu alone he threw weapons hastily which were easily deflected by the man using the snakes that had suddenly shot out from his wrists.

Neji looked unnerved as his confidence fell again, he wasn't fighting like normal, he felt like he was in danger, ever since he had seen his very life flash before his eyes he couldn't quite concentrate.

"Neji!" He heard a feminine voice shout and soon the man was weaving his body out of the way of a small barrage of kunai, the thudding sound they made as they pierced the soft mud bringing back his concentration as TenTen and Lee arrived on scene.

"We won't let you harm our team mate!" Lee swore as he stood in form in front of this new opponent ready to fight off the attacker, though he didn't know what he was up against.  
"How heart-warming of you, however I have little interest in someone with no talent." The man spat causing Lee to growl angrily, before TenTen could even protest Lee had ripped away his weights like feathers.  
"I'll show you the power of hard work!" Lee roared until he heard the opponent snigger.  
"You don't know who you're dealing with boy." The man said as he tore away his own face, revealing a much more masculine look in place of the old one, Lee dropped his weights in shock, the impact causing small craters to form on impact.

"Oh? Maybe you will be of amusement after all." The man begin to snigger once more before introducing himself.  
"My name is Orochimaru –"He started but was cut off by what he considered an annoying genin.  
"He's one of the legendary Sannin! He's also one of Konoha's most wanted criminals!" TenTen shouted interrupting the man. Orochimaru frowned in sheer distaste of her actions.  
"Ignorant girl. I was chased out of this village by fools who do not know genius." He hissed as he looked towards Neji, hoping that he had hit a nerve he looked for any sign of a reaction.  
"However…I understand that they are different…special, they have a destiny that normal people could never understand, isn't that right Neji-kun? Kukuku." The man chuckled at the end of his sentence as he saw Neji's curiosity reach its peak.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Hyuuga said nervously earning worried glances from his team mates; they'd never seen the high and mighty Neji act like this.  
"Neji…" TenTen muttered, she never seen him so shook up, whatever they missed must have taken its toll on him, she saw two of the snakes similar to ones that herself and Lee fought.  
"_He took on two by himself? While keeping an eye on this weirdo? That's Neji alright…"_ she contemplated, still she wished he knew what had happened while they were gone.

"I can remove that awful seal imprinted on your forehead…after all this miserable village forced me to do it because it was my "duty" to share the knowledge I had obtained." Orochimaru enjoyed seeing Neji's reaction, his eyes widening as his mind considered the removal of the only thing that held him back, this was fate after all.

"What do require in return." Neji spoke surprising his teammates and Orochimaru, he didn't think it would be so easy to convince the proud Hyuuga before him, it appeared he was in luck.  
"You will become my librarian of sorts…your eyes are capable of seeing through seals, a marvellous ability, so many secrets that could be learnt no other way." Orochimaru tempted.  
"That's all?" Neji asked proudly, asking so little of him seemed absurd.  
"Hmhmhm, knowledge of the forbidden arts is all the payment I need. On the other hand there will be certain gifts for you along the way." Orochimaru had captured the young Hyuuga's mind, the offer far too perfect to turn away.

"Neji! I won't let this freak take you away!" Lee roared before disappearing from sight, his skidded along the floor and landed a devastating kick to Orochimaru's jaw, yet - much to the surprise of the young genin the man's head merely titled back, his body still rooted to the floor instead of soaring through the air as intended.

With a fierce backhand Lee was struck harshly, the force send him spiralling through the air as he collided with a tree, he let out a cough, nonetheless, he jumped back to his feet.  
"As expected of a Sannin! But I won't give up! TenTen, please assist me!" He said announced before giving the girl a thumbs up, soon after he was rushing back into action.  
"Let's go!" She shouted as she unrolled a scroll in each hand, she ran towards the Sannin as the scrolls continued to unravel however Lee jumped into the fray first using one of his Sensei's techniques.  
"Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee struck high against the Snake Sannin who easily ducked under the kick activating the second stage of the attack he quickly changed to a low kick attempting to sweep the Sannin of his feet, much to the surprise of the genin, Orochimaru merely jumped over it and offered Lee a kick of his own which sent him launching past Neji, his back colliding with yet another tree as he slid down it to rest against the branch

Seeing her opportunity TenTen launched off nearly all of the weapons she had stored within her scrolls, she danced and weaved on a tree branch as weapon after weapon launched itself towards Orochimaru; swords, kunai, senbon, and various exotic weapons being among them, she considered that she had used around two hundred weapons in the attack.

Orochimaru stood, pierced and littered with weapons as a triumphant smirk came over TenTen  
"How'd you like that?!" She shouted hastily sensing something behind her she saw the pierced Sannin fade into mud, she quickly span around to see him appear with a slightly irritated look across his features.

He picked her up with one hand, his grip tightening around her neck as he did so, she clawed desperately at his hands trying to remove them before she ran out of oxygen as he lifted her higher into the air, her struggles were futile as he completely over powered her.  
"Hmph!" he let out, annoyed by the insects that had begun to pester him, he threw the annoying girl towards Neji's feet hoping that this time they would learn their place below him and stay down.

"This is who Konoha has teamed you with? These irritants? How pathetic, how unworthy, it's almost sickening." Orochimaru spoke with distaste as he looked directly into the Hyuuga's eyes. Neji growled and clenched his fists trying his best not to agree with the man, but it was true, in comparison to the Sannin they were beginning to look useless.

"Don't you dare speak about us like that!" TenTen growled defiantly wishing she had the strength to back up her words, as it was she could only sit and watch helplessly as the man belittled them.  
"If you speak again, I will silence you permanently." Orochimaru hissed causing the girl to let out a low growl knowing that she could be easily killed by the Sannin in front of her.

"I accept…please, remove this seal." Neji conceded not being the allowed the chance to reconsider the Sannin's neck extended with a great speed heading directly for the Hyuuga, fangs revealed themselves from his mouth piercing the skin on Neji's neck with ease.

"What the…hnngg!" Neji cried in pain as he held the area in which he had just been bitten, he fell to his knees as the Sannin's head returned to its place on its shoulders.  
"Neji!" TenTen screamed before running to his side. He began to thrash as she came near him as if any contact would worsen the pain, she could only watch as Lee attacked the Sannin from behind in anger.

"**Doton: Earth fist." **Orochimaru muttered as his fist quickly became fortified by rock, he easily evaded the high kick from Rock Lee and soon worked on smiting down the genin with his golem like fist. Lee was sent hurtling towards the other two genin, skidding along the branch slowly coming to a stop at his teammate's feet, unconscious as TenTen looked down at him; she saw fresh blood dripping from his mouth.

"Kukuku, I'm in a good mood now, so I didn't kill him. In return I ask that you look after Neji-kun to the best of your ability, after all the survival rate of this 'procedure' is only around ten per cent. Of course I'm positive such a promising candidate will pull through." Orochimaru explained with a sinister smirk on his face.

TenTen felt like screaming, yet remained silent as it would certainly draw more enemies, she looked down at Neji suffering before looking back to…he was gone, as if he had never even been there, Orochimaru had vanished without a sound.

"It seems to quiet." Sasuke mentioned, their lack of encounters didn't fit the scenario they were in.  
"My, my! Have you figured me out?" a familiar female voice intruded, they were quickly on the alert at hearing it, a jounin in the forest with them wasn't mentioned at the beginning of the test after all.  
"The examiner!" Haku shouted as Anko leapt down from the tree tops, landing directly in front of them as if blocking their path, she stood proudly as if confident she could defeat all three of them.  
"Have we done something wrong?" Naruto faked as he scratched the back of his head making him look somewhat innocent before looking towards Sasuke and Haku who looked as equally 'confused' at the scenario in front of them.

"You tell me." She said flatly, her eyes piercing them as she looked for any slip ups.  
"I don't believe you mentioned that killing was an offence." Haku defended, trying to refer to her previous battle in an attempt to throw off suspicion, although Anko was more than used that sort of thing from her time as an interrogator.  
"That it isn't. For participants, but I'm unsure of why we received no word from mist that you had been sent." Anko looked calm and cunning as if she already knew something vital, she was simply waiting for them to give her the answers she wanted.

"Of course they wouldn't know. Our village is constantly fighting. Less and less people are coming and providing missions, we had to do something before our country starves to death. We know the true meaning of the Chuunin exams!" Naruto spoke passionately hoping to deceive the snake lady with his patriotic speech.

"Really? I believed the civil war had ended some time ago." Anko was sure she had caught them out.  
"So that plan really did work…I wish it had ended, but that was nothing but a lie. Mizukage-sama had to release that information so that other villages didn't believe us to be vulnerable." Haku spoke sadly as she clenched her fists, getting a comforting hand resting on her shoulder from Naruto she looked back up the unmoved jounin.

"I have to say, impressive really. Two untrained teens sneaking into a village like this, posing as others like this, a simple but effective disguise. "Anko complimented hoping to give over the fact that she knew they weren't who they said they were, although she needed them to confirm it.  
"A possible theory; however there are three of us…" Sasuke spoke stoically as he pushed up his sunglasses.

"So you deny being Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha to the very end, the last member of course being this 'Haku Yuki' that you collected from your time in wave, I mean an Ice release bloodline isn't all that common, in fact it was presumed to be extinct." Anko interrogated before her eyes widened and her seal began to burn the pain clearly indicating his presence.

"Ahhh, if it isn't little Anko, I couldn't help but stop by for a visit…I knew you'd be so happy to see me. Hmhmhm." The undisguised snake Sannin tormented from behind as Anko whipped around to face him.

"Orochimaru! What the hell are you doing here!?" Anko roared which had little effect on the Sannin.  
"My, my, Konoha are a detestable bunch…wouldn't you three agree?" he laughed as he glanced at the genin and back to Anko, hoping to anger his old student.

"If you must know I merely came here to pick up a new pair of eyes. They're a wonderful lavender colour. But more importantly than our chit-chat, if you are to inform anyone and stop this exam then believe me when I say the leaf village is finished." Orochimaru threatened as the jounin could only growl in response.

"Oh? I thought you were after an Uchiha." Anko spoke as she glanced to the three genin behind her.  
"I found a much simpler approach, hmhmhm, the Byakugan will allow me learn information hidden even beyond the eyes of an Uchiha, besides those eyes are tricky to deal with, they are mutations after all, who knows, If I were to implant them in myself I may even obtain the Rinnegan instead."  
Orochimaru answered while thinking aloud.

"The Rinnegan?" Anko questioned, she hadn't heard of such a thing, perhaps it was his intentions to gain it…whatever it was, perhaps the Hokage would be able to shed some light on it.  
"Do not meddle with things that go beyond your comprehension Anko." He chuckled as he insulted her, although he didn't doubt her intelligence it was for to fun to belittle her, she was below him after all.

"So you plan to obtain this Rinnegan?" She interrogated the Sannin, hoping for a clearer picture or an insight on what his objectives may be, the fact that he was in Konoha was bad enough already.  
"Were you listening at all you fool? I do not wish to have such an unstable pair of eyes in my body such as those of an Uchiha, after learning more about them with a certain test subject the rate of mutation that would be harmful to the body was astounding, in time I will be more than capable of making them occur within my own genetics naturally…for me time is infinite, so only patience is required, dear Anko." He explained to the jounin before him, his small speech showing a fraction of the intelligence that made him such a dangerous criminal.

"Why must the exams continue? What are you after? Even if you've bitten that kid it doesn't mean he won't come to his senses." Anko tried to gather further information, although the snake wasn't exactly being illusive, he wasn't exactly pointing out what he intended to do either.

"I have three of my genin competing…hmhmhm, of course I'd wish for them to complete the exam" Orochimaru sniggered, knowing that wasn't the answer that Anko wasn't looking for although she surprised him with her next question.

"These three!?" She questioned, as she looked back at the 'mist genin' who were stood silently watching the event unfold before them, it was almost as if they were gathering information themselves.  
"…No…they are clearly ninjas of the mist Anko, are you really so dim that you cannot see the markings on their Hitai ate?" Orochimaru berated as he looked at her with a curious expression.  
"Hmph. It's obviously a disguise." Anko claimed confidently as she folded her arms not believing a word that the Sannin spoke, a childish trait that she never managed to get rid of.

"How foolish, with mist in the state it is in it would be near impossible to gain credible documentation, the only way they would be rewarded to outsiders would be to pass through the ninja academy, making the mist ninja in the process. How heartless of you to accuse them despite their good intentions…kukuku although perhaps I'm not one to judge." Orochimaru lectured the jounin just as he did when she was his student.

"I have wasted enough time here. Oh and Anko, those mist ninja have gained my curiosity, I would like to see how easily a sound ninja would destroy them, if anything is to happen to them my threat to Konoha applies, their identities revealed or not." He warned before fading into a tree behind him.

Anko turned to look at the mist ninja behind her, suspicious of them, though with Orochimaru's threat it didn't look like she could proceed with her interrogation, her views slightly thrown with the Sannin's information on the Mist.  
"You will speak to no one of this." She said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves leaving the three to continue with the exams as intended.

"Kukuku… such a favour should be returned don't you think?" Orochimaru said as he appeared behind them, having used a clone to act for him, he was surprised Anko didn't see through it, perhaps he had overestimated her, Konoha had made her soft.  
"Uhh…yeah…sure, what is it?" Naruto answered the strange man that was known as an S rank criminal, Anko had definitely called him Orochimaru, this man was apparently a leader of his own hidden village, it wouldn't be wise to attempt to confront him, thinking this Naruto agreed.  
"Now, now do not think badly of me just because some book labels me a criminal." He spoke before an overly large grin appeared on his face as if he personally agreed with the title he was denying.

"All I ask is something quite innocent… make sure that Neji Hyuuga passes this stage of the exams at all costs, knowing your identities, I believe it to be a fair price." Orochimaru chuckled at knowingly, still he held little interest for them, this way he would at least ensure Neji passes this stage, having heard about their feats in wave he was confident of it.

"Alright…we can do that." Sasuke answered calmly as they turned to leave they were stopped once again by the snake sannin's speech.  
"Fighting Kakashi and a team of genin… a commendable feat, I hope it wasn't mere luck. Neji is positioned south west of here, it would be in your best interest to hurry to him, who knows who may attack him while he is weakened…kukuku." He hinted, finally he disappeared from the area for a final time.

"Looks like a change of objective." Sasuke muttered as the other two members of their trio nodded their head, they weren't here to pass the exam although the needed to reach the finals to prolong their stay in Konoha.  
"Nothing we can't handle!" Naruto declared enthusiastically causing Haku to giggle as they set off in the given direction; they took to the tree tops, heeding the warning that the snake Sannin had given them.

"We're lucky to have not run into anyone so far…" Sakura commented as they walked through the undergrowth as Shikamaru had suggested, Kiba nodded in response.  
"Yeah…but our objective is to get a scroll…" He considered as they continued to walk towards the tower, Shikamaru agreed with the dog boy before a thought hit him.  
"Maybe we can pick one up closer to the tower; it may be a good spot for taking out weakened enemies." Shikamaru plotted, he considered attacking a team at night, but he was sure other teams had thought of the same plan.

Suddenly Kiba sniffed the air.  
"We need to hide. Now." He said before leaping in a nearby bush, Akamaru began to let out a quiet whine as the two other members of team seven joined them in hiding.  
"What's up?" Sakura whispered to the Inuzuka, trying to remain quiet due to the sudden seriousness of the situation, she didn't know what was going on but by the look on Kiba's face it wasn't good.  
"It's a horrible smell…it smells evil…like blood, not only that, there's also a group heading here from a different direction, most likely a fight is gunna break out." Kiba warned as they continued to hide their presence waiting for the predicted battle to commence.

"Stop here." The redheaded boy commanded stoically, the other members of his team obeyed obediently as they landed beside him in the small clearing they had stopped in, team seven were silently hoping they hadn't been detected as this seemed to be evil presence Kiba had picked up.  
"Gaara?" The blonde haired girl questioned, unsure why they suddenly had to stop in their tracks.  
"He looked at me funny." He said as he continued to stare at a genin from the hidden rain who had only just arrived, the claim was absurd but the girl daren't go against the word of her brother.

"Hmph! Looks like we've got a joker, oh well, a win is a win!" The unsuspecting rain ninja declared his victory before the fight had even begun, estimating their experience to make them far superior to the sand ninja that had presented themselves.  
"You die here." Gaara stated, with that he remained silent again, waiting for the rain ninja's actions.  
"We'll see about that!" The rain ninja hurled multiple strange umbrellas into the air after spinning them rapidly, they soared through the air, soon multiple projectiles revealed themselves as they started following a whirlwind like movement.

"It's over, there's no evading this move." One of the rain genin backed up his team mate but Gaara just stood in silence watching. Suddenly hundreds of the projectiles began to rain down on Gaara, but without even moving his sand did the work for him, absorbing every hit with ease.

"I-Impossible!" The rain genin shouted, he'd never seen anything like this before, the kid didn't even move yet he blocked all of the attacks, it was unheard of, it had to be a genjutsu.  
"Perhaps I should make it rain blood instead." Gaara commented as if questioning himself, sand began to slither along the ground attempt to reach the rain genin it slowly approached its target silently.

As soon as the creeping puddle of sand met with its target Gaara made a weird hand seal.  
"Desert coffin." Was all he spoke as the man became wrapped up in thick masses of sand, his face was still showing but the rest of his body was completely restricted, the sand being dense meant that it had a lot of weight behind it, there was no struggling free from the attack.

Then before the rain genin could even comprehend what was happening the sand condensed, crushing him entirely, blood began to seep down the mound of sand and Sakura had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, blood decorated the clearing instantly though Gaara stood unfazed.

Shikamaru looked away from the sight, the three rain genin were quickly dispersed, apparently they had the opposite scroll to the sand team, and after the battle they had decided to head straight to the tower to complete their objective, at least that meant that team seven wouldn't have to face that monster.

"They killed them so easily…" He commented, Kiba shut his eyes trying not to remember what they had just seen as the three of them exited the bush.  
"We need to keep moving, there could be more people like that in here." Kiba reminded, their objective was to gain a scroll and head to the tower after all, not to sit around waiting for the enemy to find them.

They estimated that they had already travelled around five kilometres, putting them on the half-way point of their journey when they came to a large open clearing, this meant danger for the three. They then saw a girl, taking care of her team mates underneath the shelter of the overgrown tree routes, by the looks of things there was only her capable of fighting, it would be an easy win for team seven.

"Oi…she's all alone…" Kiba said suggestively, his hushed voice barely audible.  
"It could be a trap." Shikamaru advised, the situation seemed just too perfect, an enemy all alone waiting to be outnumbered, although her team was close on hand and in plain sight, he still doubted the scene before them, he was almost sure it was a setup.  
"Yeah…what if we jump out and they were actually ready for us." Sakura agreed, leaning towards Shikamaru's logical answer.

"Then we pummel 'em!" Kiba shouted in a hushed tone returning to his brash behaviour momentarily, although he at least remained quiet as he did so.  
"Kiba…" Shikamaru calmed, the boy seemed to be getting restless again, not a good thing to be when trying to maintain stealth but to the surprise of his teammates Kiba took in a deep breath, before letting it out again.  
"Right…let's wait and see." He accepted that he had been outvoted and decided that it was probably for the best anyway, seeing as over there was Neji Hyuuga, the genin that was named rookie of the year last year, he bit back his pride as he thought it, as much as it drove him insane.

"Huhuhu…look that girl is all alone! This is probably the best chance we'll get!" Ino chirped happily, seeing an opportunity to pass was almost a blessing, so far she wasn't sure they'd be able to defeat anyone. She sighed heavily before turning to look at her team.

_"Man…since they left the teams really got messed up." _She thought to herself, she had no problems in terms of personality, except the two of them didn't make for good company, Hinata was nice enough, but she didn't speak often…just like Shino.

"W-W-What if it's a trap…" The shy Hyuuga offered, just the sight of her cousin there alone ment she didn't feel they had much chance of winning if he was to be faking his condition.  
"A trap?" Ino asked clueless of what she meant, she didn't think things through often and would usually just approach things directly if given the opportunity.  
" The situation seems all too easy to claim victory." Shino stated as he pushed his glasses up his nose.  
"Ah, hahah…right! Of course it's a trap!" Ino declared as she folded her arms in agreement, nodding her head to add to the effect.

"I don't think Neji would be so easily beaten…" Hinata muttered, her teammates only just managing to hear her something they've adapted to due to her timid personality.  
"_Well at least it's good for remaining hidden…" _Ino supposed trying to add a positive spin to her team's behaviour, although it bugged her somewhat that they were quiet she had to admit it was having a positive influence on her usual overbearing personality.

"Let's wait and see…maybe it'll get even easier!" She chirped enthusiastically, she couldn't imagine them getting an easier opponent, even Sakura's team may cause her poorly arranged team to be defeated, she had asked the hokage personally that the teams be rearranged, she wasn't sure that this team would even survive the kind of mission that Sakura's team was put through, much to the blondes despair a team revealed themselves in the middle of the clearing.

"We're here to challenge the Hyuuga." Dosu said flatly, clearly uninterested in the girl who was nursing him, although he didn't miss the sly smirk on her face.  
"Too bad." She replied and quickly cut a rope, this caused a huge log to come hurtling towards Dosu, kin and Zaku, although it was easily dodged the fell victim to a secondary trap that was triggered by Zaku.

Kunai and weaponry all armed with explosive tags encircled the three corned ninja, and to make matters worse TenTen was unleashing her twin scrolls, leaping through the air she uncoiled her collection, a scroll in each hand as dragons of smoke followed her, twisting and twirling around her before revealing themselves to be the scrolls themselves.

The attack taking their mind off the explosives team Dosu only responded to the burning of the explosive tag, Zaku seeing his opportunity to use his abilities grabbed his two team mates, jumping into the air, not enough to escape however he used his airwaves to propel them to safety. The explosion rumbled throughout the clearing but it didn't make its mark, the sound team landed safely but the thick smoke covered TenTen from view.

"Try this!" She yelled as weapons rained down on them from all directions, forming a triangular formation the sound team readied themselves to face the vast amount of weapons. Zaku immediately propelled wind through his airwaves pushing back a large amount of the weapons from his actions alone, kin threw multiple senbon that collided with some of the smaller weapons while Dosu punched the ground causing a sound wave to disrupt the path of the weapons.

TenTen landed, the black smoke had cleared and she was in clear view, panting slightly from the massive unsealing she glared at her opponents.  
"Such a useless attack…really, is weapons your thing or something? That's not really a talent, why don't you try fighting with just one of them, instead of just throwing everything you have and becoming even more useless than you already were." Zaku mocked, belittling the girl's efforts.

"Oi, Oi let us fight the Hyuuga now, we don't even know your name so if you run away now we might not even kill you!" Dosu generously proposed as he looked towards the resting Hyuuga under the overgrown tree routes.

"I'm not done yet!" She cried pulling violently on what looked to be thin air the weapons violently flew towards their targets once again, the sudden surprise attack too quick for the genin to respond to they had multiple cuts and wounds, but nothing serious from the attack.

"You'll pay for that you wannabe Kunoichi! If this is all it takes to be a Kunoichi in Konoha you might as well consider me a jounin!" Kin spat displeased with the level of skill the females had presented so far, Sakura and Ino felt the blunt of that insult from the safety of the bushes they were hidden in.

"We should probably help her…" Shikamaru commented, not liking to watch one kunoichi fight a full team of genin by herself, especially when she looked to have no chance of winning.  
"Yeah! If we don't who knows, they might even kill her!" Kiba agreed in a hushed shout, it was time to fight, until suddenly the air seemed to freeze from a sheer release of chakra alone.

Stood proudly wrapped engulfed in a horrifying dark chakra Neji immerged, cursed markings decorating his angered form as veins bulged from his face, his byakugan active the black markings stood out like war tattoos against his pale complexion.  
"Filth like you should not be attacking TenTen." He hissed, his voice too violent to seem normal.  
"Neji…" TenTen looked horrified, she didn't know what she was seeing before her but somehow she knew it was to do with what that snake Sannin had done to him…Orochimaru had done this to him.

"Finally! Sleeping beauty is up…now time to see just how good you ar….rgh!" Zaku's sentence was ended permanently a Jyuuken strike piercing through his throat, blood pouring down his neck flowing to his chest, splatters of it covering his face from the sheer speed that his throat had exploded with.

"Zaku! You!" Kin shouted before throwing a barrage of needles at him, the onlookers were mortified by the awful display of cruelty, the Hyuuga ripped his hand from the boys throat showing him to be of little importance as he fell to the uncaring ground, as the senbon approached Neji merely knocked them aside expelling a horrifying purple chakra from his hands instead of his usual light blue Jyuuken strike.

"My turn." With that Kin's shoulders had both been destroyed from the joints, the pressure points over worked with a massive intake of chakra left her arms dangling by her side as she desperately leapt away from this beast that wouldn't hesitate to end her life.

"Why do you cling to your miserable existence? Dare you not face me?" He roared the feeling of ruling absolute supreme washed over him, nothing could beat this feeling, he released another spiralling wave of purple chakra as the curse marks spread, the pressure of the blast causing his headband to fall to the floor.

"H-H-His seal! I-It's gone!" Hinata squeaked her surprise shown on her face not that her team mates would notice, unable to peel their eyes of the horrifying scene unfolding within the clearing.  
"Neji! That's enough! You've beat them, we can just take their scrolls and move on!" TenTen pleaded, as he turned slowly to face her she felt a wave of fear that wouldn't soon leave her, he looked deep into her eyes and for a moment she thought that she was next on the list.

"It won't be enough until they're dead…ambushing someone giving medical treatment isn't a very honourable thing to do." He lectured Dosu who stood in shock unsure of what to do next, his tail between his legs he tried to bargain with the crazed boy.

"E-Er…Right! Of course…we apologize for our actions…please take our scroll as compensation!" He offered as he slowly began removing the scroll from his robe much to his horror however Neji removed the exact same scroll from his jacket.

"Too bad." Neji stated as he intended to attack Dosu his movements were completely sealed.  
"Shadow possession complete…" Shikamaru explained while stepping out of the bushes, he turned to the sound three.  
"Get out of here, now…" He didn't have to ask twice as they immediately fled, leaving Zaku behind  
"Your out of control!" Kiba declared as he leapt into the clearing supported by Sakura, soon to the surprise of team seven, Ino, Hinata and Shino also revealed themselves.

"You need to be stopped before you lose yourself." Shino stoically gave his input to the scenario as Neji looked directly at Hinata.  
"Hahaha! Perfect! Look at you, a main house member shivering in fear of a branch member, are you jealous? You'll never be able to obtain this kind of power!" He verbally attacked, TenTen fell to her knees, the forest of death taking its toll on her as she didn't know what she could do, she felt useless.

"**Kaiten!**" Expelling a huge amount of chakra as he twirled the shadow sealing him struggled valiantly to hold him down soon though it was expelled as Neji freed himself from the jutsu. Within moments the Hyuuga was aiming for Hinata, Kiba launched himself with speed that was only capable when using his offensive technique.

"**Gatsuga!**" He rocketed towards the branch member causing him to leap away, the dog boys attack leaving a tunnel like crater on the earth, but before Neji could retaliate a swarm of bugs were upon him.

"It will take more than a mutt and some insects to stop me!" Neji unleashed his speed as he stood in his family's stance, strike after strike decimated the numbers of the insects, Sakura and Ino began hurling kunai and shuriken at the boy hoping to at least slow his movements, but as they approached he twisted his body violently.

"**Kaiten!**" After naming his action the purple chakra followed his motions completely protecting him from harm, but as his spinning stopped he saw the shadow approaching once again due to his byakugan, he leapt out of the way multiple times as the shadow was unrelenting, as he leapt back a final time he drew weapons that were thrown with incredible force, they were a threat that couldn't be ignored causing Shikamaru to drop the jutsu just to leap to the right, evading the projectiles.

"Six of you…and all six are useless! TenTen! Where is Lee…why wasn't that idiot protecting you?" Neji interrogated, the worn out TenTen looked to the tree where Neji had previously been resting.  
"I see…" He began walking over to the unconscious boy, his sinister chakra still present as he did so, soon he was stood over lee's unconscious form.

"Since you are so useless that you are unable to perform the simplest of duties I'll have to take responsibility, your death is the punishment and no less." Neji erupted in soft laughter before its volume increased to a maniacal chuckle, his hand glowing a deep purple he was about to strike.

"Looks like pretty boy is angry." A blonde commented, his mask covering his over confident smile, a laugh was heard from a raven wearing sunglasses and a plain looking genin accompanied them, her mist headband proudly displayed on her forehead.

"You! Hahaha good! Maybe you can provide me with a challenge!" The Hyuuga quickly turned on them before leaping back to the centre of the clearing, the rest of the genin present weary of him as they ba

d off slightly knowing what he was capable of they weren't sure what the mist ninja were planning.

"An Uchiha! Ohhh this is perfect, perfect, perfect! I'll show you exactly what a branch member can do! Hinata! Are you watching?! This is the strength of a REAL Hyuuga!" he roared excitement taking hold of him once more as the purple chakra whipped around his body like a vortex before dispersing once again as he remained in control of the seal.

"An Uchiha!?" Sakura yelled unable to keep it to herself the Hyuuga quickly turned his head towards her as if he had spotted a new prey, though he soon frowned and decided against attacking.  
"Do you doubt my eyes girl!? That boy is an Uchiha, of course you fools cannot see a sharingan even in broad daylight!" He laughed with great volume at his own remark as the raven reached for his shades.

"Well looks like the show is over…Naruto." The raven ripped of the glasses and shook his hair free as the blonde tore off his mask, Haku joined them as her bangs fell loose from her pony tail, just the way she liked it.

"Naruto!?" Ino yelled much to the surprise of everyone present "I was hitting on Naruto!?" She roared her inner self screaming at her as she remembered her time at the ramen stand, although she had embarrassed herself the surrounding genin ignored the girl much to her joy.

"I knew it was you!" Sakura shrieked angrily as she clenched her fists before looking at Shikamaru with a glare that could melt steel, he felt a shiver down his spine and he knew that if they got out of this alive then he wouldn't have a pleasant life to live anyway.

"Whatever Sherlock-" Naruto mocked before being suddenly interrupted by the cursed Hyuuga  
"Are we going to fight or are we going to sit around making friends?!" he bellowed, the veins on his face complementing his angered features.

"**Futon: Crescent!**" Naruto announced as he made a sweeping movement with his arm, a huge gust of wind formed a crescent mooned shape blast, it sped towards the Hyuuga, as it did it kicked up ground and dirt leaving a trail behind it.

Neji easily evading rushing towards the blonde, an unexpected speed but Naruto had seen faster, the Jyuuken though was something he wouldn't be taking a hit from.  
"**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" suddenly Neji had three more combatants that were quickly on the offensive showing Naruto's knowledge of taijutsu as they forced the boy back somewhat, as if fuelled by rage the branch member let out a roar before dispelling the clones with multiple Jyuuken strikes.

"A-Amazing…he doesn't even look like he's trying and he's still managed to fend him off…" Ino commentated as the battle continued, Sasuke intervened his sharingan spinning as he leapt into a taijutsu match, his style much more suited for combating the rival clan, anticipating his enemy's moves was a lot safer than simply relying on instincts alone.

The genin watching were awed by the way the two of them weaved, blocked, countered and struck one another a graceful dance among two clans that had been unseen for some time. Finally Sasuke landed a forceful kick to the stomach pushing back Neji several yards he whipped through hand seals as did his team mates.

"**Raiton: Surge." **A wave of lightning travelled at a blinding speed at the branch member as soon as it hit his back arched and he gritted his teeth in pain, volts of electricity danced around his being as he struggled to break free, from this position he wasn't capable of using the Kaiten.

He began releasing a frightening amount of purple chakra from his chakra points causing the lightning to stretch and shrink as they threatened to break, Sasuke stood calmly however as did the other members of the mist team as if enjoying a performance until Haku decided to speak up.

"**Hoton: Crystal shackles." **Water shot out from the ground then proceeded to float as if controlled by telekinesis, it formed a circle like shape around Neji's feet while the boy struggled against the electric barrier with all of his new found strength but to no avail, the water soon latched on to his ankles and froze instantly helping to stop the boy's movement.

"You ignorant fools! I'll kill you all!" He thrashed in his prison unaware of the blonde behind him, a hand painted with black ink a palm was thrust against the back of his neck causing him to lean forward unwillingly.

"**Sealing arts: Suppression!**" As soon as the palm impacted his neck the chakra around Neji attempted to resist but due to the prison he was already being held in it was powerless and soon withdrew into the seal, with a final grunt of pain Neji lost consciousness. Instead of letting him hit the ground though Naruto grabbed the back of his shirt, then lofted the boy over his shoulder.

The genin turned to see Sasuke taking Lee and Haku carrying TenTen.  
"We're taking these to the tower…if anyone wants to try and stop us now is your chance." Sasuke challenged, the genin were weary of their strength…but they couldn't let them leave so easily.

"Stop!" A pink haired kunoichi shouted as her team advanced to the centre of the clearing.

* * *

Such a long chapter (the longest I've ever written / 12.5k words!) Hope it isn't too much, I also hope you enjoyed reading so far! There was a lot I wanted to go over in this chapter, I wanted to do the Chuunin exams without breaking the chapters up too much making people wait for the releases hopefully this will be well received!

A big thank you to those who have reviewed, added to their favourites and added to their alerts, if you have a community you'd like to include my story in then that'd be great! The more people that read it the better!


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